Say You Won't Let Go
by SapphireTrafficker
Summary: Preparing a movie, Percy Jackson, the famous young actor, director and model, heartthrob of Hollywood, went to a place in order for his movie to be produced with higher reliability. In the infamous prison, Annabeth Chase, the tough leader of the female prison, the woman holding tons of guards' heart hostage, found herself unable to resist the attraction from Hollywood.
1. I

**A/N: This is a mid-length story about how a movie star finds love in a prison.**

 **Favorite and follow.**

 **And, Enjoy!**

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Full Introduction:

Preparing a movie, Percy Jackson, the famous young actor, director and model, heartthrob of Hollywood, went to a place in order for his movie to be produced with higher reliability. In the infamous prison, Annabeth Chase, the tough leader of the female prison, the woman holding tons of guards' heart hostage, found herself unable to resist the attraction from Hollywood.

Meet Percy Jackson, producer, actor and director. A 25 year-old slowly rising to fame.

Meet Annabeth Chase, an ordinary girl whose not in control of her own life, whose fate was not in her own hands.

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 _Percy Jackson, 25, spotted coming out of a prison, and not just any prison, it is the infamous female prison, the one and only in San Francisco with the most influential criminals and drug dealers. What is he doing there? Who is he seeing? And what not, his manager is with him. From the looks on their faces, the young Hollywood heartthrob isn't quite happy about the trip._

 _According to his spokesman, this visit is for the purpose of the next film. The 25 year-old producer and director let out the message that he is working on a new film, but will not be giving out details about the movie just yet._

That was a section from a random magazine was cut out and stuck on the wall of a prison cell next to one prisoner's bunk bed.

"Is he the Percy Jackson you're always fangirling over?" The gray-eye blonde asked with a scoff, her back turned to the owner of the bunk bed.

"Yes?" She answered the blonde fearfully. "He _was_ here. Mother." She declared defiantly, "a few days ago," she added, much to the blonde's annoyance.

The blonde nodded in acknowledgment of the answer and sauntered away slowly, not feeling the need to tell her that he was here for her. Throwing one last despicable glance at the piece of paper plastered on the wall.

¢.¢

The next film was only just an idea that had been in Percy's mind for a long time initially, it wasn't something that he was determined to make, but since its birth, the idea had been developing in his mind rapidly, in the end, Percy decided to give it a shot before ditching it completely.

"What is the film going to be about?" His manager, Nico Di Angelo asked. This manager of his had been with him even before he became famous. They were cousins and they were best friends, although they did have many disagreements, but they weren't anything unresolvable.

"I want it to be about a female prison, but I don't know anything about it, nor do I know where to find all the sources." Percy expressed his frustration honestly to his close relative.

"Speaking of which, I actually have a place for you." Nico said excitedly.

"Where?" That got Percy's attention, he lifted his eyes up and turned to his manager, asking him with a voice full of enthusiasm.

¢.¢

The car stopped in front of an old building with fences surrounding the four sides. The building was big and dark, even under the bright dazzling sunlight, it looked void of light. As a celebrity with a requested special visit, he was led straight to the warden's office. The most elegant place in the whole area. The warden's office was a dull place, however, the lights were not dim like the ones elsewhere making it appear to be warmer. The cold weather made the house look even more freezing and unwelcoming.

It's the middle of a winter day. The warden was just taking his nap, but the phone call from Nico had got him on his feet at once. Welcoming the young international star into the room, he offered him a cup of warm coffee in which he nicely declined.

"Mr Warden, we're only here to make investigations to form ideas in order to develop the new film that Mr Jackson is planning on making." Nico went straight to the topic, not wanting to spend any minute longer in the suppressed space. The two visitors remained standing, not planning to sit and have a chat any time soon. "We'd like you to take us to the inmates and the cells, introducing a person that we can question will also be in our favor." He requested.

"As you wish, gentlemen." The warden heaved a silent subtle sigh, standing up from his chair, he led them through the dark hallway himself before handing them over to the guard on duty at the entrance. "You have until the visiting hours in the afternoon." He instructed, and then left with a nod of goodbye to the celebrity.

Percy and Nico followed the guard deeper down the hall, walking through a door consists of metal bars, they saw bunk beds with walls separating one with another. Two people would share a space together. Their sheets and everything were white, their clothes were in the mixed shade of the colors yellow and khaki. It was plain with no decoration apart from their full name's initials on it. Despite every clothing being white and bright colored, the room was still lit with only a few lamps, radiating off a dim pale gleam from the four corners and from the one atop on the ceiling.

When they turned their heads to scan around the room after their existence in the common cell gained attention from the prisoners, they saw a light in the far corner flickered then darkened. Percy narrowed his eyes in that direction in curiosity, but then decided to drop it, maybe that light had a connection problem. When the guards went with Nico for an inquiry on their job and their life as guards, Percy suddenly felt all eyes on him and analyzing him closely.

Before he could take a step, a group of girls who were just about his age swarmed around him, giggling and pointing fingers at him. Some brave ones even prepared a paper and a pen for him to sign on, they stuffed the materials under his nose as if he couldn't see properly. Signing off a few autographs, he suddenly remembered his purpose of the trip here. Flashing them a smile, he looked away from the crowd, contemplating whether or not he should just pull out a random fangirl to ask questions, but soon decided against it.

As his eyes roamed around the room, he faintly saw smoke coming out of a far corner where the light flickered off. Pointing a finger in that general direction, he asked the girls around him who quietened when he was about to speak.

"Is the wire on fire there?" He asked only out of safety concerns, he knew that the facilities could be poor in this place.

"Oh no, it's The Lord. She's smoking again." One of the input, at least that was the only clear answer he'd heard from a bunch of shouts.

Percy could hardly imagine that this place was the only one in this big city for most influential female criminals.

"Whose _the_ Lord?" He asked, scrunching up his eyebrows in confusion.

"Annabeth Chase." That same person said out loud, but was quickly slapped by the others.

"Don't call her full name. You're not allowed, even Piper's only allowed to call her by her first name." The person who shushed her scolded.

"Lord Annabeth." She quickly changed her tone and her words, trying to redeem her mistake.

Suddenly developing interest in this Annabeth Chase, she sounded like the mob head around here, in this prison. Percy thought she must be someone in mid-age and someone very experienced with corporate crimes. "Can I meet her?" He asked, voicing his thoughts.

The crowd suddenly went silent, some even walked away with their heads down. Percy was even more confused. When his expression merged from excitement to confusion and to annoyance, he was facing a crowd of muted people. It seemed that she wasn't planning on showing her face herself, so he started to walk towards the direction of the smoke. The crowd gasped, but no one stood up to stop him.

He could smell the smoke from nearby the corner. When he was near, he felt that he had been engulfed by darkness, with the lowered whispered talk coming from that place, he felt a cold shiver traveling down his spine.

Before he could make a sound with his mouth, the talking stopped. The atmosphere became tense and the temperature dropped straight down. Urging himself to move forward in order to meet this mysterious Annabeth Chase, rounding the corner formed by two walls, he found himself soon standing in front of two girls, one in tank top and another in a sports bra with a tank top clutched in her hand. Both of them were wearing a pair of old saggy jeans. In the windowless surrounded darkness, he couldn't make out anything. The only visible items were their clothing and a orange light coming from the cigaret head. He had took in their dress by the shades and the vague outline.

Closing his eyes for a moment to let his eyes adjust to the lighting, when he opened them again, he found himself face to face with one of them, her were in dark shades, because there were very little reflection of light. He heard faintly that the two women on the floor muttered a short conversation as his eyes were getting used to the darkness.

Finally, one of them started talking, to him. "Who are you?" She asked, her tone intimidating and demanding. At first, he thought she was Annabeth, but on second thought, he didn't think this Annabeth Chase would have the need to kick someone out herself. "Why are you here?"

Although not the expected greeting, but that would do, for now. "Percy Jackson, I came to see Annabeth Chase." His voice quivered a little by the startling voice from the girl.

Looking past her, his eyes went back to the floor, assuming that the one on the floor, smoking would be their Lord. Someone cleared their throat from the corner. The girl in front of Percy looked down to that person, Annabeth, and then quickly turned her attention back on him.

"The Crime Lord will not see anyone." She ordered simply, yet her command sounded really powerful. Even without looking, Percy could felt the eyes of the girl on him, glaring at him, burning a hole through his forehead. "You will see yourself out." She repeated the same instruction, this time the force was stronger, urging Percy to leave.

"I wish to make an appointment with Annabeth Chase next time." He said before leaving, that was the only sentence he was able to manage under the intense gaze of the girl without the cigaret.

Moving out of the corner, his feet led him out of the darkness involuntarily. When he was out in the brightness, the other prisoners all gazed up at him, but none of them were as enthusiastic as they were when he first entered. Walking up to a random person, he leaned on her wall, wanting to know something about their Lord and her friend.

"That person is Piper McLean." The prisoner said. "I'm going to get punished for saying their full names today." She then muttered to herself quietly, hoping that Percy didn't hear it, but he did. Not reacting, she continued to inform him. "Piper allows us to call her by her first name but forbad us to use her surname. She'd prefer Master, but The Lord doesn't allow it for some reason. As to The Lord, we are forbidden to use her name, we are only allowed to call her 'My Lord' normally or 'Lord Annabeth' when she's in a good mood. We reference her as 'The Lord' behind her back. They both forbad us to use their surnames, for some reasons that we don't know and are not allowed to ask." She paused, letting the information sink into Percy's brain. "Piper's The Lord's second in-command. She will talk to the people that want to talk to The Lord, she's the only one allowed to make direct contact with her. It might not be my place to say, but I'm getting punished already today, so I might as well tell you this." She said, looking up at Percy with fearful eyes.

Percy was about to stop her, telling her that he wouldn't force her to say anything she didn't want to or was not supposed to, but she insisted. "Piper's secretly dating the warden's son before she ends up in here. The son, Jason Grace, often smuggle her a few things occasionally. The details I don't know, but I can tell you that the relationship is real." Her confession surprised Percy, but he let her continue, he needed the information. "The Lord had a boyfriend outside of prison, his name was never known to us. Piper probably knows. But that's not the main thing." She paused, looking around to check her environment. "Her parents are Athena and Fredrick." She said, giving him a final nod, telling him that she had finished and it was his cue to leave.

He thanked her and left, meeting up with Nico on his way out.

"So, what have you got?" Percy asked once they were out of the common cells and in to the hallway. Recovering from his shock, and not wanting to be laughed by Nico, he remained calm.

"Just the general facts that I can get from the internet. You?" Nico answered briefly.

"Not much." Percy shrugged, recalling to the two girls in the corner that frightened him. "We have to dig up some information on two people." He said, informing Nico and retelling everything that had happened after they separated in the prison.

¢.¢

 _Annabeth Minerva Chase, normally Annabeth Chase or Annabeth M. Chase, sometimes just with A.M.C.._

The day they got back to their residence, Percy and Nico started their respective research. Nico went online to find more about the prison and Percy went to dig up information about the two mysterious girls he had met. Ignoring all the fangirls, not that he had remembered any of their faces apart from the one who had told him about the two leaders.

On his notepad, he jotted down the following information:

 _Annabeth M. Chase_

 _25, been in prison since 18. Sentenced for 10 years, no parole probation allowed._

 _Mother- Athena Parthoens_

 _Father- Fredrick Chase_

 _Reasons for sentence/charge- drug dealing and murder of several lives (trumped-up, scapegoated)_

Due to the comments behind the charges along with the prohibition on probation, he decided to look up her case, but the public case file didn't include hers. He didn't want to stir up the police department, so he decided to do a research on her parents. While he was on that, his notes on Piper McLean was written on the next page of his notebook.

At last, he hit the cell-phone of the IT friend of his, Leo Valdez, asking his help in the background search of the newly discovered people. On the same page, he had added the information about her parents down, briefly concluding it next to their names.

In that dark corner, two women was seated against the wall, both in a pair of faded saggy jeans and a very thin piece of clothing on top. A blonde with stereotypical princess curl, about the age of twenty-five occupied the actual corner, she had a lit cigaret in the corner of her mouth; one of her leg stretched out straight and another bent for her arm to be rested on. The other woman, a choppy brunette, seated on the floor leaning against one of the wall adjacent to the corner, next to the lamp that was lit before. She had her leg crossed and her arms crossed at the wrists, resting her forearms on her upper thigh. She had nothing in hand, a belly button piercing reflecting the very little, almost invisible light, giving out a silver lining.

"Your eyes, Annabeth, they do shine." The brunette mused out loud.

Annabeth nodded, although positive that the speaker wouldn't see the reaction. Blowing out a mouthful of smoke in to the air, she tilted her head back down in the direction of the speaker. "Why are you telling me this? McLean." She asked in a deafening soft but hard voice.

"Piper, please, I beg you to leave out my last name." McLean pleaded, she wasn't sure why she pointed out anything about Annabeth's eyes, but the use of her last name caught her attention more.

"Why?" Annabeth asked, demanding a more convincing answer, though she had heard the story countless of times already.

"You know why. Please, My Lord, I beg you." Piper said, still pleading her Lord to put her out of her misery.

"Explain to me." Annabeth commanded, this sounded more like an order than a question.

"My father's the famous actor, and I don't want to ruin his reputation." Piper answered, keeping the replies shorter and shorter each time.

"No." Annabeth blew out another cloud of smoke, looking up at the ceiling, she continued. "No, that's not the reason."

"I knew you knew it all along, why do you want me to keep repeating it." Piper whined, really not wanting to get in to the topic.

"I want you to tell me." Annabeth said simply, not taking her eyes off the smoke coming out from the end of the cigaret she was now holding between her index and middle finger.

"But why?" She asked. This subject had been included in their discussions multiple times, and the same questions was asked, in which the same answers were given.

"Because I want you to be confident in yourself." Annabeth explained.

"I am." Piper protested, mildly. "Quite confident in myself." She added weakly.

Annabeth remained silent, and that was not the answer nor the treatment Piper expected and wanted.

"If you can't appear to be confident, then how do you expect the followers to respect you." Annabeth said pointedly after a long moment of silence.

Piper stared, this was the first time Annabeth gave her the reason to why she had pressed her every time they talked about the last name issue.

"If you don't prove to me that you're confident enough, your last name will be the indication of you from me." Annabeth said, detecting that Piper might need one more push to open up.

"You pressure me in to talking about my last name issue whenever I said something about your eyes, your name or simply something about your past." Piper declared, feeling like this might be the final straw.

Annabeth smacked her mouth, sending out a warning to the brunette, telling her that her patience was wearing out. Piper recoiled and stopped prying, knowing that she would be dreaming to get anything out of her.

"Fine, I'll talk." Piper said, giving up to their Crime Lord. Annabeth turned her attention back on her, expression softened, and waited for her to start. Piper felt her eyes fixed on her, turning away, feeling a surge of nervous wave through her body, she took a few quiet breaths.

Footsteps sounded around the corner, making Piper swallowed back everything.

Both of them held their breath and listened carefully around them. Frowning, they glanced at each other with the same question in their mind, who? They were certain that no one in the jail would dare to disobey their rules, and they were also sure that they'd ordered everyone to stop anything from interrupting them when the light was off.

None of them murmured anything, they just looked up when they felt a presence blocking their exit/entrance. Looking up, they could see the man in their doorway crystal clear. He wasn't stranger to either of them, but the man had always despised them, in which the feeling was mutual. In a way, the women saw the man as despicable.

"The smoke ain't SOS." Annabeth rolled her eyes and muttered to no one in particular.

"No shit." Piper muttered an agreement back.

"Percy fucking Jackson." Annabeth spoke in an undertone, her speech full of distaste and dislike. "The motherfucker." She heaved out an audible sigh that covered up the swearing.

"Touché." Piper nodded, agreeing whole-heartedly.

They exchanged a weary and annoying but knowing smile, and with a shook of head from Annabeth, Piper stood up.

"Who are you?" She demanded to the unexpected visitor harshly. Studying his face carefully and closely, she could feel his uncertainty and his doubts for his decision. Knowing that one more push might make him back up, she threw him another inquiry. "Why are you here?"

Scowling, Piper could feel Annabeth's eyes on him, analyzing him from inside out. Seeing the fear in his eyes, Piper smirked inwardly. Staring at him with an intense forceful glare, she could also imagine the expression on the Crime Lord's face, her signature lop-sided grin.

Percy's fearful reply made Piper want to laugh, she had intimidated him.

Just as Annabeth pinched on to the short, almost-gone burning cigaret, pulling it away from her mouth after a deep inhale of breath. She held her breath to savor the taste of the smoke powdered particle. Averting her eyes away from the visitor, she could felt his eyes on her. The lop-sided grin grew wider on her face as she exhaled that long breath, eyeing the smoke coming out of her mouth and into the air. Pleased with the effect Piper had on Percy, she decided it was time to let put the visitor out of his misery and get her privacy back.

When Annabeth was sure that Percy had finished checking her out, she cleared her throat, making Piper turn around to look at her. Motioning with her eyes, she told Piper to get rid of the guy. Piper understood and with an amused smirk tugging on her lips, she turned back to Percy.

"The Crime Lord will not see anyone." She declared, sounding forceful. Percy staggered back a tiny step, and to prevent himself from stammering, he decided to remain silence. Seeing that he would not move, Piper glowered with contempt. "You will see your self out." She ordered.

Percy started to turn away, knowing that the two girls wouldn't take him in this time, he wished to test his luck next time, so he let out a statement. "I wish to make an appointment with Annabeth Chase next time." He said, pretending to be calm on the outside, but the women could detect his scared feeling.

Annabeth eyed his actions with an emotionless face and an amused eyes. When he disappeared around the corner to where he came from, they waited for a few moment before letting out a fit of merciless taunting laughter.

"That fucker." She chortled, more to herself. Shaking her head in amusement at the bold actions carried out by the Hollywood star. Clicking her tongue when she thought of the possible reason to why the guy would know her full name, knowing that if it weren't for the celebrity's presence, the crowd would be punished somewhat.

The ringing bell notifying them of the visiting hour had begun broke the peacefulness and the quietness between the two when Piper stood up, ready to walk out.

"Jason's coming today." Piper announced, adjusting her bra strap and put on the tank top she had been clutching on this whole time, smoothing out the wrinkles. She stood with her hands on her hips, staring down at Annabeth as if waiting for her dismissal. "How do I look?" She asked, turning around.

Laughing at Annabeth's friendly scowl, Piper turned and started to walk away.

"Tell Grace I said hi." Annabeth called behind her, sourly. "And you owed me something, don't forget." She added as a reminder, obviously the latter was more important.

"I will," Piper whispered with a nod of appreciation. "See ya." She waved, and much to her surprise, Annabeth waved back with a grin that hid and covered up all the bitterness in her.

Reaching for the pack of cigaret she stored in her bra, she lit up the last tobacco currently on her. Tasting the cheap nicotine coming in from her mouth and going out from her nostrils, she threw her head back against the walls and shut her eyes, focusing her thoughts on the cigaret in her hand that was next to her mouth. Taking a sip whenever her mind started to drift off to the events that happened.

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 **A/N: Worth a review?**


	2. II

**A/N: Second chapter of the mid-length AU., hope you really liked the first chapter to click next chapter.**

 **Enjoy.**

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The following was added to the notepad from his own research:

 _Athena Parthoens- drug lord, commonly known as 'Mother Minerva'. Deceased._

 _Fredrick Chase- serial killer, having been on the international wanted list for decades. Deceased._

Percy winced at the history of the two parents of Annabeth Chase as he dug deeper in to their record. He felt sympathy for her for being scapegoated by her own parents. Still determined to know more about this girl, he decided to pay a visit on the next day if there would be no important events on his schedule. Looking at his calendar made by Nico, he crossed out some plans and decided to use that time to pay another visit. This time hoping that he would be able to talk to her.

Nico decided to accompany Percy in to the common cell this time, because the result of leaving him alone last time was a bunch of fangirls. Knowing Percy, fans coming too close to him would make him uncomfortable, especially when the majority were from the female population.

¢.¢

Piper got into prison for multiple reasons, but mostly because her victims pressed charges. The real reason to why Piper and Annabeth were in jail was not known to any inmates, not even the two know about each other's background fully. They vowed to not speak of it, due to multiple reasons.

"I hate my father and I don't know my mother, so shut the fuck up about the theory behind my criminal actions." Piper had always spat at the others who asked about her history.

As a respond to the people who asked about Annabeth's past, she would say. "You wouldn't ask these questions if you knew my parents, but I'm sure you know them, they're quite famous." In the most sarcastic way and with a drastically sardonic smile.

Annabeth was in the cell at the age of eighteen, captured on the next day of her eighteenth birthday, as if the police had planned this arrest since her birth. Piper met her in cell six years later, when she was just a few months over the age of an adult.

Whenever a newbie appeared at the doorway of their cell, the inmates get excited and ask questions about the charges. The reasons given by Piper and Annabeth were coincidentally the same. That was what made them so noble amongst the prisoners and what made them gain popularity amongst the guards; the different demeanors of them from the others. They told them with a sneer.

"They charged me a whole fucking lot. My lawyer fucked me up real bad, they shitted."

Annabeth didn't participate in the bet they made about the new girl, but she had a good feeling about this young woman. From that day on, Annabeth, already in power, took the newbie under her wings and put her faith in the choppy brunette adolescent.

"What are you in for?" Were the first words uttered by Piper when she first got her chance to be alone with Annabeth. That took Annabeth by surprise, because when she first arrived, people were frightened by the powerful aura radiating off her and scared off by her glare from the pair of cold steel gray eyes. No one dared talking to her, let alone question her. Even until this day, only a very countable amount of people had ever spoken to her, even less had the chance to hear her voice.

Caught off guard by the newbie, Annabeth for some reason didn't get angry at her. "What makes you think that I'd tell you." She asked a rhetorical question, sensing that this girl next to her was very inexperienced in jail and naive in life. "Now, tell me, why are you here and not in juvenile prison, huh chick?" She requested for her own entertainment. Piper flinched at her voice and a little bit at her tone, but still offered an answer.

¢.¢

Exactly a week after his first visit, Percy stepped in to the infamous prison once again, this time, with Nico close by. Walking through the exact same door, stepping on the exact same steps, and ascending the same spiral staircase that led to the Warden's office, they ended up in the exact position facing the Warden. This time, Nico forgot to make a call beforehand, their appearance was a surprise to the prison governor.

"Gentlemen," the Warden greeted, "I wasn't expecting a celebrity visit twice week in a roll." He said, displaying his shiny gold teeth with coffee stain on it. The two men nodded their heads as their greetings to the Warden. "What should I offer you two?" He stood up, walked around his table and stopped in front of them, politely asked with a slight bow of head.

"Thank you Warden, but we'd like to proceed straight to the visit part of this procedure, skip the protocol." Nico said, expressing Percy's thoughts. "We might become a regular visitor for the next few months or so." He added. As the spokesman of Percy, Nico was expected to do all the talking while Percy could just stand aside and watch.

"As you wish." The Warden said, using the exact same phrase as last time. Percy secretly wonder if it was how this guy speak to everyone that he needed to pay respect to. "Gentlemen, follow me." He said, leading the way. Walking down the same dark hall as they did last time and they were, like last time, handed to a guard on duty. "This way please." The duty guard gestured in courtesy after been dismissed by his boss.

¢.¢

Annabeth's head snapped up when she heard the familiar voices, but Piper's remained focused on her own business, at least that was what it seemed like.

"Are you fucking someone?" Piper's voice cut through her train of thoughts and shook her out from the staring.

Annabeth stared at Piper with a peaceful emotion, not showing any signs of startled and caught off guard. She didn't say anything nor made any gesture to reply. Her mind was racing to find an answer. Finally, she settled with a grin that contained a lot of information and meaning behind.

Piper might be a deviant girl, she might have committed a lot of crimes, but she was still inexperienced. In jail or in public, Piper was just a child, she didn't understand anything about power and blackmail. Her mouth might be persuasive, but that wouldn't work every time.

"No." Annabeth replied shortly after the smile. "I'm not fucking anyone." She eyed the eighteen year-old girl who had only became an adult for a few months. As a woman, she felt like it was her responsibility to teach Piper about the hidden rules in prison. She knew Piper would be the perfect material, she just had a lot to learn that's all.

"Then why are you staring at him? The watch." Piper asked innocently. She had been only in cell for merely a week, and she had been asking more questions to Annabeth than all of the inmates in total. People, of course, couldn't help but wonder why was this newbie treated differently.

Receiving special treatment from the Crime Lord could mean two things. It could be a warning from the Lord, telling them to adjust their way of acting, or do whatever they needed in order to blend in to the rest of the people that didn't get a special treatment. Or it could result in a punishment that the Lord would creatively think of, made just for them.

The Crime Lord had her natural aura that had kept everyone under a spell, making them obey her with everything. Perhaps it was her parents, but she was one of a talented too. Annabeth's attitude to them were unexplained, and to them, it didn't need any explanation. Again, this time, no one questioned what was with Piper, but they wondered amongst themselves.

"You'll know." Annabeth gave her a smile with many hidden meanings, but Piper had only seemed to get one, the one on the surface, on the very top. "Watch and learn kid." She winked playfully at Piper, making the latter even more confused.

In Annabeth's smile, there weren't only the meaning of 'you'll know that when you're older', but also a sinful thought of how innocent she was and what she would become if she kept spending time with her.

¢.¢

To be completely honest, it had been a long time since Annabeth had a companion, a friend, someone that she could let her guards down with.

Four years ago, when she was only nineteen and had just got in to prison for two years, a girl older than her appeared in the cell. Her names was Bianca D'Angelo, it was a name that she would never forget.

Initially, she treated her like any other inmates. Just gaining power in the cell, Annabeth needed to be forceful in order to maintain her position and her status. She had to establish the foundation in order to make her life easier later on. Since she had to be there for ten whole years and maybe longer.

This newbie wasn't exactly old, but she wasn't young of age either. She was shy and looked very innocent. Her actions further proved the theory that Annabeth came up with the moment she saw her. She was framed and scapegoated, just like her, only with a lighter sentence from a lighter crime. Bianca was asked to share her story a night just a few days after she got in.

"I never did anything, but one day, I was informed that I was under arrest. At first, I don't believe it, I couldn't. I've always been a good girl and followed every law I can follow. My brother's making a great fortune out there as the manager of a celebrity friend. I don't want to ruin his reputation so I asked them if I pleaded guilty, will they skip the trial and keep it from the media. They said yes and guaranteed that my case won't be on the papers." She said, tears trickling down her cheek. Most people in the cell were soft at heart, they were sad to hear about this young innocent woman's misfortune. Some even shed a tear or two. Annabeth stood at the side, listening to it with a look of impassiveness, but even without showing any expression, she still sympathized for her.

So apparently, she did all that just to save her brother's reputation, because as a sibling, once one had a scandal, the other would be dragged in no matter what. Annabeth liked her from the start, and even more after the confession. She had listened to the main parts, and left when she started to answer questions and getting soothed by the others.

It was the first time that Annabeth felt less lonely. Trying to keep her image almighty and high, she restrained herself from any of the entertainment and fun the other inmates were having, she often sat in a corner smoking her cigaret and drown herself in thoughts. From time to time, she would smuggle in some beer and wine for them to party and for herself to enjoy. Whenever there was an opportunity for her to help out with rebuilding or simply an opportunity to get close to the guards, she would jump for it.

A pack or two cigarets were all they need to be convinced and obliged to whatever she wanted. Tolerating all the small actions from her. She knew that the guards were attracted to her one way or another, because of various reasons, and she would use it to her greatest advantage. The payback would be the cigarets and the drinks. She would accompany them in their small celebrations on rooftops occasionally, behind the back of the Warden.

Ending up in prison was unfortunate of Bianca, but she was one of a miserable soul. When Annabeth finally would able to get off her high horse and allow herself to get closer to Bianca, finding herself becoming more admirable everyday because of her friendship with her. However, fate wasn't in the mood to favor either of the two girls.

Bianca died.

Annabeth took a small portion of blame.

It all went like this...

¢.¢

Everything was as it was, nothing had changed since their last visit. However, the lantern at the far corner was on this time, and there were no smoke coming out of it. Apparently the Crime Lord and her second in-command were somewhere else, in their own space.

The guard stood aside to let them enter, he had took his position at their tail after they walked in to the room, just in case the prisoners tried anything. Scanning the room like he did last time, Percy tried to locate the two women in the dark corner from his extremely vague memory. Nico's eyes were darting from Percy to the gawking eyes from the female inmates. Feeling the same sensation building up in him whenever he was in the crowd, under thousands pairs of eyes, nudging Percy with his elbow reminding him of what he was here for, he took a very insignificant step back.

Percy didn't even need to glance at Nico to understand his nudge. He took a step forward and took a better look around the prison, trying to locate the two girls, but without luck.

"Where's Annabeth? Is she here?" He walked up to the girl whom he talked to last time, but he couldn't remember. Nico stood where he was, wanting Percy to deal with that himself. He was only acting like a personal bodyguard.

At the mentioning of the name, everyone turned their attention back to whatever they were doing. None of them even dared to speak, many of kept staring at him with a blank expression, very little continued ogling at him, but was brushed away by him. Percy assumed that Annabeth had given them a hard time since his last visit, because her full name was been called by one of the inmates. However, in truth, Annabeth wasn't the one giving them a hard time, it was only Piper, giving them a warning. They weren't even punished.

Before he could bring out someone and press on the matter, someone stepped out from the side, her voice was utterly familiar. Nothing clicked in his mind though, because from all the people that he had talked to throughout the week, he could easily have remembered something wrong, many sound could sound familiar to him.

"The Crime Lord does not accept visitors." She informed, before showing her face.

Looking up and halting at his place, he saw a young woman with a brunette hair and a very unevenly cut end approaching him confidently, head held high and with her arms in front of her chest protectively.

"You are free to leave or just stand here like idiots." She continued, stopping in front of the two men and eyeing them with a pair of emotionless eyes. Keeping a serious straight face, she leaned casually against the wall showing the door to the hallway where they just came from.

Gesturing to the doorway, suggesting that they could show themselves out because they weren't welcomed here. The two boys had their eyes fixed on them with some kind of expression that she wasn't bothered to understand.

"You're choice." She shrugged after waiting for a while for them to move. Pushing herself off the wall, she sauntered away, disappearing back to the place where she emerged from. A look of mild contempt slipped on to her face as she walked past them, the look was directed more to Percy than to Nico.

One look of the girl's eyes, the jigsaw pieces clicked together in his mind. It was the same woman who had ushered him out last time he wanted to pay a visit to Annabeth.

"Hey, look, we're just trying talk and get some information to help for our new film." Percy tried the nice way at her as she was walking away. Swallowing his pride and letting down his guard, brushing away the look she sent him and her demeanor. All of her acts were something he disliked, but from the stories he had heard about prisons, he knew better to go against them.

"Then please do so. No one's stopping you from talking." The girl whose initials were P.M., said, still with the indifferent look and expression.

"I want to meet with Annabeth." He tried, with the same patient tone. Pressing down his irritation and his anger towards this girl, he kept his face friendly looking and negotiable.

"The Crime Lord doesn't meet with strangers." She turned around and smirked at someone that Percy didn't really caught sight of.

"Who do you think you are to reject a person when you're in cell." Nico butted in.

Clearly unsatisfied with the progression of the situation, Nico cut in and glared at the girl, Piper, who was less than intimidated.

"Just get me that 'Crime Lord' of yours or else I will call the guards to do so for you." Nico meant that as a threat, but clearly he was unaware of the status of the person he was talking to and the person he was requesting.

Piper let out a short merciless laugh. "Suit yourself." She spun and spun her heels and walked back, leaving a scornful look in their short memories.

She was halfway back to where she appeared from, a blonde hair woman with a recently lit cigaret in her mouth approached her. Sending her the smallest smile Percy had ever seen, she stopped in front of the blonde. Giving the men at the door a look, the blonde turned back to the brunette. From the way the brunette was acting, it was clear that she was a powerful one, if not the Crime Lord.

"Annabeth Chase." Nico called out and started to stroll towards the two girls who were engaged in a conversation. The brunette scowled at him and turned to face him fully, the kaleidoscope eyes radiated off annoyance and protectiveness. "Care to step out and have a word?"

"Who are you to demand and interrogate?" The brunette, Piper, took a step forward. "When I say you can leave, you leave. There _is_ no alternatives." She growled threateningly.

"Do you think I'd be afraid of you when all the guards are around and watching this episode unfold?" Nico retorted back at her. Now looking past her, landing his eyes on the blonde that wasn't wearing the uniform like everyone else. "You're a fucking coward Chase. A cripple."

Recognizing this man that was full on insulting her immediately, Annabeth raised her eyes to meet his. She wasn't surprised to see the fear coming off him and the look in his eyes when Piper stood up to him. She was amused by the insults of her and also the way he was acting, it made her wanted to burst out laughing. Something else bothered her and prevented her from showing disrespect towards the men completely. Nico was more than uncomfortable standing in this prison cell where her sister died just a few years ago.

Piper was about to step up and give Nico a day of hell, Annabeth put a hand on her shoulder, stopping her. She stepped forward herself.

"I'm talking now, what do you want to know? Nico D'Angelo." Annabeth said, blowing the smoke in his face as she took out the cigaret, pointing the burning head at the man, who looked even more scared by her voice and by the mentioning of his name.

"How do you know my name?" He whispered, swallowing or perhaps gulped down a mouthful of gas mixed with second-hand smoke coming from Annabeth.

"Do you still want me to speak?" Annabeth asked, her voice loud enough for Percy to hear, yet low enough to spare the unwanted attention from the other inmates. He winced at the sound of her voice, Nico cringed, taking a step back. "Excuse them." She motioned to Piper in a smaller voice, making her hoarse, rough, scratchy and broken voice sound closer to normal.

Piper executed what she was told to do and went back to Annabeth.

¢.¢

When Piper was a newcomer, it was Annabeth who had chosen her as the 'second in-command', and it was Piper who had chosen to obey the rules set on her. Piper didn't know why, but she was somehow mesmerized by Annabeth's ability to make people see her logic and dropping theirs. She wanted to learn it from her, knowing that she wasn't going to be in jail for long. However, the more time she had spent with Annabeth, and the more she realized that Annabeth was giving her a special treatment, she started to treat the admiral feeling towards Annabeth as a liking.

Despite Annabeth's choice of friends and her choice of taking someone under her wings sounded selfish and biased, it was purely personal. She wanted to rule, but she also didn't want to be the cruel leader, she just wanted the power and the rights that she wasn't able to get before her eighteenth birthday. Piper had been in jail for almost a year and a half, the equivalent amount of time that she had been under the wings of the head. Still, she knew very little about this Annabeth Chase.

"What happened to your voice?" Piper asked once the two gentlemen were gone. Not that she didn't dare to ask questions, she just didn't want Annabeth to remember the painful times.

"McLean," Annabeth sighed and turned to her, taking the cigaret out of her mouth exasperatedly. "After a year of being close with me, you still don't know me do you?" She asked rhetorically, her voice sounded normal only because it's low and soft.

"I've asked you to not use my last name, for personal reasons that I don't like to explain." Piper protested at the use of her last name. She had dignity, and whoever it was that offended her even after her warning was going to get yelled at, even if it was the guard or the warden.

"And I've asked you the same." Annabeth nodded, appearing to be patient but actually trying to contain her fury. "Since your first day here, I thought I've been more than crystal clear to you that you are not allowed to question me. Is the silent treatment not enough to give you the sign?"

"Then will you tell me something if I tell you my only secret in detail?" Piper negotiated, really wanting to know more about her boss, because till now, Annabeth hadn't tell her anything specific.

"A secret for a secret?" Annabeth asked, raising an eyebrow; because as far as to her knowledge, Piper only had one thing that was unclear to her and the others were insignificant, however, as to herself, she had more than one big secret to reveal, if she had to spill her gut.

Piper nodded in confirmation, seeing nothing wrong in this deal making. Hopefulness filled her eyes when she saw Annabeth's head dipped down as she pended on the deal.

"What other secrets do you have? Or is it just about your last name." Annabeth asked, having the feeling that the story behind her last name wouldn't be something as big as her own shits to reveal. She didn't want to lose Piper as a friend, but also didn't want her to get too close, keeping her at arm length was what she wanted.

"My last name and my criminal record." Piper announced shortly.

The gears in Annabeth's mind turned, and she was sure Piper could see it, because her eyes turned calculating. With one intention in mind, that was, to get Piper's so-called secret out without spilling out too much to uncover her facade, she coped with the negotiation and thought of a deal. "How about this, listen to my proposal, you like it deal, you don't no deal."

"Deal breaker?"

"Precisely."

"Okay." Piper agreed light heartedly. In Annabeth's opinion, this girl was still too young and too naive, too easy to be played.

"Now listen." She started, her mind forming a list of ideas and placed them in order. "You tell me about your last name and I feed you something about my voice. You tell me your criminal record, in which I'm sure I already know of, you get a chance to ask a question that I will honestly answer, but maybe not fully."

Listening to her own words made her realize that this deal sounded really unfair and especially towards Piper, but the youngster accepted in a heartbeat.

"Deal." She said, extending her hand.

"You're not going to consider it?" Annabeth asked carefully, not wanting to break the deal but also feeling sorry for the young one to be fooled that easily. Piper shook her head confidently. "Eager for information aren't you chick." Annabeth shook Piper's extended hand and gave her a sly look.

¢.¢

Back in the penthouse of the celebrity, a very shaken assistant and manager followed Percy into the living room.

"Why are you so shaken up?" Percy asked for the fifth time since exiting the cell. This time, different from previous times, was out of concern.

A sob escaped the tough looking boy, making his pale skin paler. He shut his eyes tight, squeezing out the last drop of tear.

"Annabeth." Was all Nico could choke out before he went back to hugging himself tight and closing his eyes. He rocked left and right on the living room couch, constantly letting out a short but audible whimper.

Percy at first just stared at his friend, ignoring the name that came out of his mouth; not knowing what to do. He could only look at him with sympathetic eyes and helplessly watch his friend suffer from a voice haunting him even when he was not asleep. When he sat down and tried to focus on his own stuff, the sniffing and barely audible curses coming from Nico made him drop whatever he was doing.

"What had Annabeth done?" He asked, sitting down next to him on the couch. Recalling the encounter with the Crime Lord in the prison cell, Percy remembered clearly that Nico stepped forward to talk with Piper and Annabeth, only because he thought they were rude to him. He remembered Annabeth opening her mouth, stepping forward to talk to Nico, but he didn't remember anything else from her. He didn't remember her voice nor the sentence that came out of her mouth. He could only remember a trembling Nico coming out of the gate and shaking all the way home. He wasn't a bit frightened, because he had gotten a similar treatment from Piper the first time he was there.

"Her voice, it's haunting me." He chocked out between sniffs. Sitting up and staring in to the blankness in front of him, he said, calming down gradually. "I stepped forward and taunted her because I thought she's being a pussy for not showing her face and do us this small favor, instead of asking her minion to fend off visitors. I thought I succeeded when she stepped forward, motioning the other girl to backoff." He paused, taking a deep breath to prepare for what he was about to say next. Percy only sat there and listened, not making any move to interrupt. "She knew my name." He whispered the part.

Shocked, Percy's jaw dropped, but was soon closed. "She's very influential in prison, she has eyes everywhere. Of course she knew your name." Percy tried to justify her actions by making up a reason for it and, tried to make Nico felt less scared.

"No, that's not the point," he argued, "her voice!" He nearly shouted in frustration. "You heard her." He said, sitting up and leaning towards Percy.

Wanting and expecting to see the same shock that might appear on Percy's face when he recalled the voice, Nico examined his face, squinting through the excess water that swelled up earlier in his eyes. But, all he was getting was the confused face from the celebrity.

"No, I don't remember her talking, let alone her voice." Percy said, shrugging, really couldn't think of it.

After a long while of pause, Nico tried to register what was the feeling in him that was haunting him ever since they left the jail.

"Her voice reminded me of the guy that threatened me to frame my sister," he gasped, finally knowing where his fear came from. "The threat wasn't empty, my sister had been framed." Nico continued, more to himself than to Percy, who was still next to him, unknown of what to do and what had happened. "She died in that same damn prison." He finished, taking a shaky breath, getting up and poured himself a shot of vodka and downed in one gulp.

* * *

 **A/N:** **I'll try to let you** **know the process of all of my stories from my profile, but school's been so busy ever since it started, so it's kinda hard to even find time for this. I will try my best to keep my profile page the place for the newest updates about me.**

 **Stay tuned, and review if you think it's worth one~**


	3. III

**Hope you like it so far. Tell me if you find anything confusing, because there're a lot of flashbacks and parallel scenes.**

 **Enjoy.**

* * *

A week had passed since the celebrity's last visit to the cell, and Annabeth was wondering to herself whether they would show up or not. She was entertained by the reaction from Nico, not that she had shown it to anyone, but Piper knew she enjoyed the show, enjoyed haunting him. Annabeth could tell from the look in Piper's eyes that she didn't like what Annabeth did purposely, but didn't dare to ask, because she didn't want to lose her closeness with the leader. Selfishly wanting the special treatment from the boss.

They usually come before visiting hours, but it seemed like they weren't planning on visiting after all, because Piper had just stood up to go and meet Jason. This time, she surprised herself with a visitor, it wasn't the celebrity, it was her ex-boyfriend Luke, Castellan. Stepping in to the conference room with Piper, she wouldn't deny the fact that she was nervous, because that was one of his very rare visits. They broke up the first time he was there, but he still agreed to remain as friends. After all, they weren't serious when they started dating.

"Hey." Luke greeted once she was seated across him, fidgeting with the hem of her uniform.

"Hey." She said, trying to appear relaxed and cool. "What makes you decide to come?" Getting straight to her question. She was never the kind for small talks, never had been and never would.

"Still straightforward, huh." He chuckled, leaning back in the white plastic chair, playing with a small piece of round cardboard in his hand he found on the table. "It'll get you in trouble in the future. Huge shitload of trouble." He said in a warning tone, but somewhere in that was laced with a playful one too.

"Cut the crap and get to the point." She rolled her eyes. "I think I am in shitload of trouble already, no surprise if anything worse comes."

"Has a celebrity come here to ask for your answers?" He asked, eyes focused on the thing he was fiddling in his hand.

"Percy Jackson?" Annabeth asked in a huff, looking away from him and scanned around the room absentmindedly. "Sure he has, but without luck."

"What does he want to know?" Luke asked, still curious.

"Dunno and don't care."

"You should you know? You're coming out in what, three years, I think it's time for you to start getting to know the outside world." Luke suggested warm-heartedly.

"Oh trust me," Annabeth scoffed, eyes resting on the cardboard piece in his hand holding no emotion. "I'll be back in here with another bullshit charge before I can even take a step out of that gate." She tilted her head in the direction of the main entrance of the jail, eyes still glued to the thing on the table in Luke's hand.

They fell into a comfortable silence, at least for him, because he really couldn't offer anything better than an agreeing nod.

"Seriously, I don't have much time." Annabeth cut him off his thought. "What are you doing here? After seven years, and yet you're still here to visit." A hinted appreciation could be detected from her accusation, and Luke knew it was the best she could express herself.

"I just want to hear your voice and see you in person." He shrugged, truly missing his friend, even if they didn't have anything romantic in between.

"I thought you only dated me to get Thalia jealous." She asked incredulously, clearly not understanding the angle where Luke viewed their relationship. "We were just fooling around weren't we?" She asked, trying to suppress her doubts.

"Yes we were fooling around, we were never serious, but," he paused, catching Annabeth's eyes, "the friendship between us was serious, it still is." He locked eyes with her, studying her like reading her soul as best as he could. "I still care about you Annie, that's why I constantly think about when will be a good time to visit you, knowing you wouldn't want any constant visitor because you fear that people will see this as a weakness."

"Yes, and now I'm regretting to sit here in front of you, recounting the history and the sparks that are long gone between us." Annabeth said, although the sadness in her voice couldn't be avoided by Luke. He nodded sadly, knowing that he had struck a sore spot and brought up the defensive Chase.

"Well, thank you Annabeth, for letting me see you." Luke said, standing up and deciding to leave early, because she obviously didn't want him there any longer. "You can get rid of me now."

Standing up along with him, Annabeth stuck out her hand for him to shook. He did and gave her a grim nod before heading out by himself. Annabeth was then brought back by a guard that she knew was scared of her, but she wasn't exactly in the mood of giving other people creeps currently.

In a private room, Piper sat in front of Jason, who had brought something for his girlfriend in jail. They laughed and smiled at each other, taking their time with each other as much as they could with very little physical contact. Jason, being the warden's son, always come to the prison and order to be allowed a private visiting room for him, under the name of inspecting in order to help with an essay that he was working on about prison life.

"Do you know a Hollywood guy named Percy Jackson?" Piper asked her boyfriend. He had been feeding information from the outside world, letting her get in touch and kept up to date with everything that was happening. Even information on her family from time to time when she asked for it.

"Of course. I've heard of him, rather famous." He commented, drawing out everything he knew on the name given to him. "Why do you ask?"

"He was here twice in the past two weeks. Once with an assistant and the first time without. He wants to speak to Annabeth, but you know Annabeth, she won't speak to anyone because of her voice so she'd always have me answer whatever questions and fend them off." Jason nodded, letting her continue. "But this time we got some stubborn ones. His assistant, Nico, went up and insulted her, called her names so she stepped out." Piper found it extremely weird and interesting at the same time, the phenomenon was some rare occasion.

Letting her finish before Jason started to speak, patiently. "Do you know anything about this prison before you got here, Pipes?" He asked, putting his hand on the table for her to take. She shook her head. "I'm not sure how much Annabeth has told you, and I don't know much about her either, but I can tell you what I do know." He offered, Piper smiled wanting to hear it out.

A knock on the window told them that the time was up, Jason signaled them to allow them a few more minutes. They went of, courtesy to Jason's identity and status in prison.

"We don't have much time, so I don't want you to interrupt me." He started, Piper nodded seriously. "Before you got in, Annabeth had been in here for six years already. Her charges and trial were never publicized, and I don't know anything about it, my dad doesn't even know about it. However, she was very influential before she turned eighteen. I was here the day she was arrested and sent in, she used to look so innocent and young, but she was independent from everything. I remember the glare I got when I sent her a pity look." He chortled at the memory.

Squeezing his hand, she gave him an uneasy smile and allowed him to continue. "Her family was infamous for a lot of things, and although I know about some, it's still not my place to say it, and what I know will only be a very small portion. You'll have to ask her for more details. However, what I do know, is that her mom was the head of some cult or something that deals mainly with drugs. Maybe the largest drug dealing corporation. Her father was an infamous serial killer to put it simply." Piper took in a sharp breath upon hearing the information.

"She never told me any of those." She whispered in a low voice.

"Of course she won't, I bet she won't even mention it." He said as if it should be a fact. "As innocent and naive as you are, you've probably crossed a lot of lines already." He laughed humorously, but the humor was quickly removed once he saw the worry lines written on her face. "No, don't worry, if you haven't receive any neglecting over the year, then I think you'll be fine. Just try to keep your mouth shut from now on, since you know more." He advised, easing her a little.

Rubbing circles to sooth her, he continued, fully aware of the time ticking away. He had to get this story out of him, and he would play the power card if necessary.

"She valued you as a friend, because she lost hers four years ago in _this_ cell." He started, carefully examining the reaction from Piper. "Annabeth had a friend just a year after she got in here, she was still new to the environment and wanted to gain control over everything because that was how she felt secure and safe. Annabeth was already half-way through with getting everyone under the spell. She'd smuggle stuff in for them occasionally, and she would get them into the deal with drinking beer with the guards after helping out with some labor work from time to time. That friend who came along when she was nineteen was called Bianca D'Angelo."

Piper gasped at the name, something clicked in her brain. The name called by Annabeth to the boy who taunted her had the same last name. "Did she kill her?"

"No." Jason answered quickly, dismissing her thoughts. "As intimidating as she seemed to be, she's good at heart. A very caring girl with a very kind heart, she just has her own way of showing it."

"You sound like you know her well." She huffed.

"If you're choosing to get jealous now, then I think I'd only have to reserve this conversation till the next time we meet." He negotiated, getting a little impatient with the constant interruption. Piper gave him a look telling him that she didn't believe him.

"No, please, don't go, I want to know." She begged when he started to stand up.

"Next time, baby." Jason said, pushing the chair under the table, walking around it and planting a kiss on her lips. Opening the door and walked out, leaving Piper there sprawled on the table wondering had she really offended him that much to make him leave.

¢.¢

Percy was getting ready for the weekly visit once again, but this time, it seemed like he was going to be on his own.

"You've made up your mind already didn't you?" He asked Nico one last time before getting out of the room to be in his car.

"Yes, positive." His assistant replied.

"Okay." He agreed, putting on his coat as he stepping into the chilly wind before ducking into the car waiting for him in his driveway.

Percy was determined to not lose this opportunity, he would get her to talk to him, and he would open up to deals and negotiations if it meant that he would be talking to her. From the years of experience of talking with people, he could easily tell what kind of person they were and what kind of information they hold from first sight. From what he could tell, Annabeth was the most experienced person in that cell, maybe not the one with the longest sentence, but definitely got a lot in her gut.

To be able to get to know the insight of a prison, he had to find the right person to interrogate; and he had chosen his pray carefully and now he's after it.

Arriving at the gate, he went through the same procedure like the previous two weeks, cutting each meeting with the Warden shorter and shorter. He prepared a list of questions mentally as he stepped in to the common cell area.

When the guards stepped back, his eyes quickly found its way to the unlit lantern at the far corner, waiting to see the smoke coming out of it, he was sure that Annabeth was there. Taking a deep breath, he went there, mentally prepared for whatever might be thrown into his face.

"Sorry to interrupt, again." He cleared his throat, cutting their hushed conversation short. "I know the Crime Lord will not appreciate any visitors, but I will pay for whatever it is to talk to her." Percy tried in his most genuine tone. The silence was deafening, he could hear the chuckle coming from the girls, not sure which one, or both.

"A pack per question." From the smooth but sharp tone, he could tell it was Piper's voice.

He considered the option, but decided to try negotiating before giving in. "Two packs of the good ones per visit."

"No deal." Piper said immediately. "Agree or leave, deal breaker." She said, a very good negotiator.

Percy pursed his lips, trying to think of an alternative.

"Fine, I think this place is good enough for a chat." Percy decided, sliding down against a wall, next to the two girls. Eyes wide, the two girls watched, but said nothing.

Piper was just lighting up a cigaret that Annabeth passed her, but stopped in her tracks when she saw him sitting down. She scowled, but when she turned to Annabeth, she could only see amusement in her eyes and nothing else.

Annabeth offered him the pack, silently asking him to take one and suit himself, because she ain't making a sound. Percy shook his head.

"I don't smoke." He said. Annabeth raised an eyebrow. "Fine, I quit, will, trying to." He said unconvincingly. A smile flashed across her face, she liked to torture people and watch them suffer. She shoved the packet close to his face, urging him to take one. From the devious smirk that was making its way on to her lips, Piper could tell that Annabeth was enjoying the internal debate that was going on inside Percy's mind. She pitied him, but Annabeth wouldn't be soft on anyone.

"Okay, fine." He muttered, taking one from the pack and grabbing the lighter on the floor that Piper had just used. Taking in a sip, he spat out. "Disgusting cheap shit." He swore. "How do you survive with this?"

"Tough shit I know." Annabeth said, catching both Piper and Percy by surprise. "Deal with it prat." She said, her voice still the same as she used with Piper earlier. Percy made a mental note to bring them a bottle of drink next time.

"Tell me about yourself Annabeth." Percy said, taking another sip of the cigaret, getting used to the feeling of cheap nicotine entering his lungs. Without looking at her, he waited for her respond.

Annabeth shrugged but said nothing, Piper was too stunned to say anything for her or translate her gestures.

"Then how about you Piper?" Percy turned towards Piper, who had not been taking any sip of her own cigaret that was glowing in her hand.

"I… Uh…" Piper stuttered, not sure what to say. She hadn't seen Annabeth seeing him as an enemy, so she had no idea what to take of him.

"Relax, just tell me whatever you want." He said soothingly. Annabeth scoffed at the side, but didn't stop Piper from talking.

It was weird for Annabeth to let a stranger talk to them and sit in their corner, but she was in no mood to deal with the stubbornness of the visitor, also, she was put in a rather light mood after Luke's visit. So she could care less if they wanted to talk, as long as she didn't need to use her voice.

"Tell me about yourself, anything. Surprise me." He encouraged, glancing at Annabeth who had a genuinely amused expression on her face. It looked new to her, perhaps that facial expression had not been displaying itself on her face often lately. He was finding it a very interesting observation to make.

"Um, how's Nico? I mean, he looked haunted and pale after last time's visit." Piper stopped gaping and started to speak, but it wasn't anything expected.

It took Percy a moment to process the question and take in her nervous fidgeting. He offered a small smile that was meant to calm her down, he was here to investigate for his own movie, not to sell them out if he got anything, he was technically on their side. "He's fine, a little overwhelmed, but he'll get over it."

Piper nodded, not knowing what to do next. She was suddenly self-conscious, perhaps because of the natural celebrity aura around Percy or the fact that Annabeth was allowing everything to happen against her hidden regulations, she wasn't sure which one was creeping her out more. Her eyes darted between Percy and Annabeth, and lingered on the latter, hoping to find out a solution to this situation from her boss, but she wasn't getting anything. In fact, the eerie yet harmless smile that was slowly surfacing on Annabeth's face was making Piper's hair stand.

"What can you tell me about your daily life in here Piper?" He knew Piper would be good enough to start his investigation. He needed to use his conversation with her in front of Annabeth to prove to her that he was on their side and was worth talking to.

Piper shrugged, not sure where to start, she had a lot to spill out, and to a stranger that seemed to be uncaring about their criminal history might be a good choice. Piper could sense that Percy was just trying to get information out of them, but wasn't planning on selling them out to press more charges on them.

"My life here is boring and dull, I don't see any point of telling you that." Piper started, finally opening up, since Annabeth wasn't stopping her from doing so. "Why don't I tell you about my life before I got in here?" She offered.

Percy wanted to say he didn't really care about her life before, he was only interested in her life in jail, but now that she was talking, it was better than not, so he let it slide and let her carry on.

"I wasn't a very good kid when I was younger, before I am eighteen, I have committed several juvenile felony, DUI, DWI, you name it. Once I had some drugs in my hands and tried to sell it, but got blew up. My dad wasn't the proudest of me, but what can I say, he didn't make me proud either." She shrugged, very enjoying the recounting of her criminal life. "Then, the day I was eighteen, I got charged by theft with deception, I don't deny it, I really did do it, but that guy didn't even protest when I told him to hand me the car keys." She laughed, a merciless, humorous laugh. "Oh, how stupid was that guy. Then, here I am, charged with two years of imprisonment."

Percy smiled, trying to get some reaction to her anecdote, although he wasn't enjoying much, because she wasn't his main target. Her life wasn't as interesting as the one sitting next to her. Now getting on her second cigaret, she leaned forward and lit it with Percy's to save the fuel of the lighter.

"Oh, I have a question for you, Mr Jackson." Piper was high now, she had been so happy that someone would listen to her speech without being interrupted by the guards or being afraid of increasing her sentence in prison.

"Please, ask away." He said, glancing at Annabeth, always observing her movements and demeanors. A small idea had formed in his mind, he was now planning a biography, based on his observation on the infamous Annabeth Chase.

Piper was too concentrated on talking to think about her boss at the corner, she hadn't glance at her way ever since she started spilling towards Percy.

"Since you're friends with Nico D'Angelo, what do you know about Bianca D'Angelo? His sister I presume." She asked, completely unaware of the presence of Annabeth who sucked in a sharp breath soundlessly.

His eyes darted to Annabeth subtly when Piper wasn't looking, he sensed a tense atmosphere radiating off her corner. Turning back to Piper, he felt that it might be a sensitive subject for Annabeth, so he decided to give a blurred answer.

"I… Don't know much about her, Nico don't talk about her much." He said, it was partially true, but if he elaborate on the part where he knew about, the information still might be enough to cease Piper's thirst.

"McLean," Annabeth's stern voice broke Piper away from her trance, her head snapped to the speaker, a lace of fear flashed across her face before she looked back to Percy, as if it would prevent her from getting any potential punishment. The warning look from Annabeth's eyes was enough to make Piper curl up.

Piper decided to shut up and drop the subject, but Annabeth raised her eyebrow, an indication for her to make a move and do what she was supposed to do. She stood up and scrambled away, knowing that if she didn't do what she was told, she might be in trouble. Annabeth was always unpredictable with her decisions.

Percy watched everything unfold in front of him, amused. His eyes darted between Piper and Annabeth, knowing that a conversation was going on, or more precisely, an order had been passed down.

When Piper was gone and out of earshot, the place was quiet once again, the only sound audible was the sound of Annabeth blowing out rings.

Percy's deep chortle brought her back to the dark corner. Her analytic gray eyes focused on him, raising a questioning eyebrow at him, she stared into his eyes. His eyes were indeed beautiful, even she couldn't deny the fact that it would easily hypnotize anyone, attract anything it want, and let anybody drown and lost in them.

"You smuggle things don't you?" He said in a small voice, coming out more like a statement rather than a question. A smile was still on his face, he looked relaxed and almost fit in the place that he was in.

"'I'm known to locate certain things from time to time'." She quoted from The Shawshank Redemption, correcting him at the same time.

He smiled, knowing exactly of the reference. "'I wonder if you can get me a rock hammer'." He replied with the next line in the movie, making a creepy smile showing its way on to her lips. The smile, unlike any other ones he had seen coming from her, it was genuine, it reached her eyes. She was genuinely pleased and amazed by this young Hollywood sitting in her prohibited zone. For the first time in all his visits, her eyes met with his.

"How much do you think that will cost, from you?" He asked, the smile still tugging on his lips, knowing she was getting better about his existence there with her.

"I don't ask for money." She explained, letting her way of living in the prison slip, not completely unnoticed though. "Cash ain't somethin' useful, don't need those craps with me." She clicked her cigaret, making the burnt ashes drop to the ground next to her, where there had been a pile already.

"Then what do you ask for?" He asked, curiously.

"Cigarets, beers, wine even. Anything useful, you name it and I'll consider it." She shrugged, taking another sip of her cigaret. "They all come in packs or bottles." She informed, adding it after blowing out another perfect ring of smoke.

"How about I bring you something each time, and you decide if that's worth for a conversation with me?" Percy negotiated, striking up another deal.

Annabeth pondered for a moment, then decided to play it safe. "For example?"

"You'll just have to see." He winked.

"Then there's no deal." She cut it off quickly. "I play everything safe. Especially when it comes to this."

"Trust me, you won't be disappointed." He tried again.

"So are you going to interview me today or are you just going to sit here and waste your time trying to construct a deal with me? Cuz, I got all the time in the world."

"I've got time too." He shrugged. "And, if you don't mind, I can start interview you now."

"Then, get the packs ready."

"Didn't have them today, that's why I told you I'd bring something every time to surprise you."

"That's very kind of you, but you need to put something here as an advance payment." She smirked, finishing the cigaret in her hand. Taking over the one Percy handed her, which he had only sipped one third.

"You don't like it?" She asked humorously.

"Nah," he shook his head, "too inferior. Substandard."

"Rich prick." She shook her head, finishing off the one he left for her.

"What can I say?" He sighed, looking at her, taking in her features.

"Your deposit?" She asked, reminding him of their conversation.

"I told you I ain't got any, at least not with me."

Annabeth shrugged, knowing that there would be no deal if he kept saying that he's got nothing for her.

"How about," he got an idea, thinking that if this wouldn't work than probably none would. "I allow you the privilege of not being bound by the schedule. You don't have to work if you don't want to."

"How can you do that?" She was attracted to that idea immediately.

"I have my ways. Just think about who I am and what I'm doing." It was now his turn to smirk.

* * *

 **A/N: Stay tuned to my profile page for more updates on me and my stories!**

 **As usual, worth a review?**


	4. IV

**A/N: Profile page for updates on my status. This is a very different writing style that I usually use, I'm hoping that it's working, but if I'm confusing you in any way possible, just tell me.**

 **Enjoy.**

* * *

"Now that I've updated your situation and treatment here as remuneration, can I have a chat with you?" Percy asked, sitting down at the same spot that he was at exactly a week ago. Annabeth was doing the same thing as she always do, smoke.

"I can't promise you that I'm going to answer everything." She looked at him solemnly.

"I know. You'll need time to trust me." He shrugged, completely getting her.

"Then tell me what can I get out of each conversation?"

"Whatever you want that I can do in my power."

"What is it that you want from me? You've been doing everything to get me to talk."

"I am trying to make this movie about the female prison, and you are the main character, at least the female lead will be portrayed based on you."

"Interesting." She scoffed, looking away, really not finding any of his words interesting in any way possible.

"I know your parents." He stated calmly, as a matter of fact. That caught her attention immediately. "In person." He added in effect.

¢.¢

Just a few hours before Percy arrived, Annabeth was already in that corner, with Piper next to her. She didn't forget about his promised visit, or perhaps, routined visit. This time, unlike the previous, she was looking forward to it. Piper was next to her, explaining something to her, but she tuned out.

"Are you even listening, Annabeth?" Piper stopped, looking at Annabeth angrily.

"Keep going." Was all she said before turning back to the same expression that she had when Piper was talking.

Piper sighed, but didn't defy the order.

"I don't feel comfortable when people put the pieces together and know that I'm the daughter of one of their biggest stars. My dad was their role model."

"So you were afraid of letting your father down and ruining his reputation?" Annabeth said, not wanting her to think that she wasn't listening again.

"No, hell to the no!" Piper exclaimed in a rush, feeling the desperate need to get everything straight. "I don't belong to the McLean family, I am nowhere near the celebrity standard and I don't want to be a celebrity. When I was a kid, I tried to do everything to get my dad's attention, because I was the unwanted kid to him, but then I got off doing all those things. I liked them and enjoyed committing crimes. Knowing that it would get him pissed off and make him hate me more, but I couldn't care less. I wanted to be excluded from this family. My mother disowned me, my father practically did as well. The day when I was eighteen, he practically called the police and pressed charges to let them have me, the longer the merrier."

"So you were ashamed of this name?" Annabeth asked lazily, just trying to say something to prove that she was at least paying a little attention to what was coming out of her mouth.

"No! Well, yes, you can say so. But, I just don't want to be put together with Hollywood stars and fame. I am a rebel, that's a fact. I hate it when people recognize me as the daughter of Tristan McLean, I wanted to be just another Piper in this world, someone who will be living not under her father's shadow."

Annabeth nodded, not wanting to hear anything anymore, she just wanted to sit there and wait for Percy to come. The last few days, she got beers from the guards and got to sit on the rooftops and chat with the guards, while watching the sunset. If it was not Percy fulfilling his promise, Annabeth couldn't think of anyone else who had the same influence doing it specifically for her.

"Visiting hours." A voice came from the common area, Piper's head peaked up.

"Jason's waiting." Annabeth dismissed her dully, looking forward to spend time by herself. Piper gave her a look, but didn't press on, she knew something was off with Annabeth today, but she just couldn't get her hands on them. "Piper," the voice from the corner suddenly brought her to a halt, she stuck her head back around the corner.

"Yes?"

"Why?"

"Why what?"

"Why are you telling me this all of a sudden?"

Piper shrugged, it just came out of her, she really didn't think much before she spilled.

Annabeth narrowed her eyes at Piper, not believing her a tiny bit.

"Jason's waiting." The latter said in a singing voice, half serious. Then, remembering why she was left alone, Annabeth nodded and let Piper go.

¢.¢

"'Get busy living, get busy dying'." Percy sighed, leaning his head against the concrete wall that his back was leaning against.

In his hand, a luxurious cigaret brand smoke lit, glowing in the darkness. Turning to his right, Annabeth sat there, staring at him. Taking a closer look at her eyes, she wasn't just staring, she was studying him, taking everything in. Putting the cigaret that tasted so foreign, yet weak, in a good way, in her mouth and taking a long sip through it, she felt like she was been washed by cash. Without letting her eyes leave him, she blew out the smoke in experienced like she always did. Her movements were so smooth and relaxed, he felt like he wasn't even in a prison cell. The moves made him felt calm, somehow.

When he gave her a look, she averted her eyes from him in slow motion and fixed on to the smoke in her hand. Her eyes gazed at the cigaret, thinking of something, because it wasn't out of focus.

"Exquisite." She mused out loud, commenting on the burning stick she was holding in between her fingers. "You just quoted from my favorite movie." She continued, her eyes not moving away from the glowing cigaret that was slowly burning towards her finger tips. "Tell me," she continued slowly, dragging each word dramatically, "where did you got all the information on me? From digging my parents' files or what?" She glanced at him from the side of her eyes and placed the mouthpiece in between her slightly parted lips. Nipping it with her thumb and her index finger, she took the short cigaret out of her mouth, careful not to let the hot ash touch her.

"I have my ways." He simply shrugged, not wanting to reveal the source of his information. To him, that wasn't important.

"'Everyone has a breaking point', you know?" She said, still in that calm, lazy voice. After studying the cigaret in her hand a while longer, she pressed it on to the wall next to her, extinguishing it.

"And you're now quoting from my favorite movie." He stated, just inputting an information that was useless to both of them in their current state.

"What do you want to know?" She asked, roaming her finger above the mark that just appeared from extinguishing her cigaret.

"What would you share with me?" He said back, not wanting to push her but also wanting to get something out of her at the same time. He knew to be gentle and extra careful with what he was saying.

"You name it." She answered almost immediately, catching him off guard. Of all answers, he wasn't expecting that one. "Oh, don't look so surprised, I'm sure you didn't do all that work just for me to give you some bullshit."

"I genuinely wanted to know more about you, if not for the movie, then for myself." He sounded like he was offended, but she couldn't really make out his face from the dark. "I honestly find your experience intriguing. I mean," he quickly justified himself, "if you don't want me to publish anything, then I won't, but I just want to know more about you."

"Why?"

"Because of your personal experience." Percy replied simply, not sure what kind of answer she was looking for.

"Okay, this may look like I'm taking advantage of you, but tell me something about you. Something that can make me feel like sharing all my information and digging up my past for you is worth it." Annabeth suggested, she knew she was pushing it, but she also didn't want to give out information that easily, since her past wasn't something she'd like everyone to hear about. Percy had visited them for four times, including this time, and he was always aimed for her, so she felt that he must've been determined.

"Sure." He agreed in a heart beat. Sort of taking her off guard but on the other hand, it didn't. She raised an eyebrow at him to mark her surprised look. "Let me tell you something about myself."

"Not something that the media or the public defines you as."

"No, nothing of that sort. I'm not reciting from my wikipedia page." He smiled assuringly.

Annabeth nodded for him to start. Lighting yet another cigaret, though, this time she didn't rush it to take a sip, instead, she picked up the lighter and started to examine it absentmindedly. "Can I have a drink next time? Beer, alcohol, anything strong or you find suitable." She asked just before he was about to start.

"No problem, my Lord." He teased cautiously, silently thanking the gods that he was granted a second chance.

"Now, start your story, or anecdote, per se." She took a long sip of the expensive branded cigaret that he brought for her, really tasting it with her tongue.

"I know your parents and Piper's dad, personally, I've met them before." He started, and that statement itself caught Annabeth's attention, her eyes were immediately focused on him. All of her movement terminated. He pretended not to notice his success in catching her attention and continued casually. "Piper knows my dad, Poseidon, personally. Tristan and my dad collaborated for several films, and that included many of my dad's masterpiece." He paused for an effect, not glancing at her. "Though, at that time, I wasn't exactly in the spotlight and I wasn't exactly eager to be under it. Piper however, on the contrary, wanted to catch her dad's attention desperately, so she started to do all those excessive actions, like shoplifting, car stealing. Although nothing big, she still got caught several times." Percy stopped, looking sideways to see Annabeth's reaction, thinking that it may be good to just pause there and focus on what he was interested and should get more information on. "Enough about Piper, since it will not be my place to expose anything else I know about her."

Annabeth glared at him, knowing that it couldn't be argued, because it was simply a person's rights.

"My older brother, Triton, was a frequent customer of your mother's."

Her eyes widened upon hearing the confession, however, to maintain her coolness, she decided to not make any sounds.

"However, he somehow got ahold of many crucial information on your mother and their organization, so when she, Athena, died, her people stopped trading with him, because he was heavily indebted to them." Percy continued his story, a smirk was evident in his tone.

"He threatened to sell my mom out." Annabeth guessed a very obvious option that would explain the story.

He nodded, despite knowing that she might not be able to see his gesture. "Yes," he added, "so here's when and how your father comes in handy."

"He was asked to murder Triton in order to keep his mouth shut." She explained, which made it even more obvious.

"Smart girl." Percy complimented.

"Fuck you." Annabeth glared at him, but only muttered the curse, she didn't like being called that.

"So, moving on." He announced, ignoring the glare. "After your father finished off my brother, he committed suicide."

"Way to end his life." She muttered to herself sarcastically, since she wasn't exactly proud of her parents either.

"I'm sure you are unfamiliar to all of this because you weren't exactly trusted by your parents?" He ignored her comment earlier and stepped on the line, it was really up to her now, whether to kick him out or open up to him.

"Nope, you're right, I know nothing." She clicked her tongue in annoyance, she hated when people point out that she actually knew nothing and was nothing, she'd like her facade to be on her at all times.

"But, here's the thing." For some reason, she felt like she should explain something to him. "They don't trust me, and that's not a one-way thing, it's a mutual feeling. I don't trust them either." She confessed, as if it was pretty obvious and everyone should know. "Do you even know why my voice is like this? Hoarse, rough like sand paper, scratchy, raspy." When he shook his head, she smirked dryly. "Yeah, of course you don't." She whispered to herself, heaving a silent sigh.

"My parents are one kind of special creatures." She continued, seemingly irrelevant to her previous subject. "Fredrick, my father, was the serial killer that everyone feared; my mom, Athena, was the drug lord that every drug dealer look up to. With everything they came up with, every new invention, I was their experiment." She stopped, suddenly feeling like she was spilling too much.

"Wow that sucked." He said it to himself, not expecting her to make anything of it.

"I've had worse." She replied, as if she had this new found need to show-off her tough experience at home. "Though after I met Luke, things seemed to get a little better.

"So is Luke Castellan still your boyfriend?"

"How much research have you done on me?" She chuckled humorlessly, her voice full of irony.

"A lot. To be frank." He answered sheepishly. "I'm not going to hide anything from you, but I really do need a lot of information."

"I don't want a biography and I don't want to be famous, mind you." She warned, not at all excited by the idea of a movie based on her life.

"It doesn't have to be about you."

"Then why the fuck are you still here?" She almost felt like she was enraged by his visit for some reason that she couldn't put her hands on.

"I like you, and I want to know more about you."

"You can't fucking like me, not in all seriousness." She retorted. "You only say that because you find me interesting and I'm nothing like the other people you deal with every day."

"You're right, about everything, but that still doesn't stop my curiosity."

"How the fuck can someone be so stubborn?" Annabeth thrusted the cigaret that was almost finishing off against the wall, jumping up to her feet and stomped away from that corner, leaving Percy speechless and stunned.

"Do I still have a next time?" He called behind her, still on her floor, staring at her retreating figure.

She whipped her head back and glared at him, but other than that, he got nothing from her whatsoever.

"So moody." He covered his face with his hand and stayed there.

¢.¢

"What are you in for?"

"'I'm innocent, lawyer fucked me.'"

It had slowly become a trend and a fashion in the prison to quote from Percy and Annabeth's favorite film of all times, _The Shawshank Redemption_. Though, not everyone was familiar with the movie, but since it was what their Lord liked, they felt like it should also be theirs.

"Will Percy come today?" Piper asked Annabeth as they got their food from the cafeteria. None of them were feeling like eating much, so their plate was rather empty, but the yogurt that Annabeth got them was the most appealing.

Annabeth shrugged in response, she hadn't been talking much lately, especially not about her conversation with Percy yesterday. Everyone saw her storming out of the corner that she was usually in with a disturbed expression, though Percy didn't come out after a long while, it was hard for everyone to guess what really went down. Of course, as the leader in the jail, she wasn't to be questioned or doubted unless she wanted to share her experience.

Her conversation with him had been swarming in her mind ever since, she had no idea why she walked away. If it wasn't the feeling of someone liking her and wanting to know her that scared her, she assumed it was the fact that she'd had to tell a complete stranger about herself. The gospel that he actually knew her parents personally made her uncomfortable.

All her life, she was never a fan of her parents, nor was her parents a fan of her. There was no trust between the two parties, let along family life. Her parents were focused on their own criminal career life, and she was only at school because she wanted to be there. Annabeth had never had any objection towards killing and drug dealing, she didn't do any of them didn't mean she hated it. To her parents, she was always holding a neutral ground. Knowing that she would learn nothing sensational from her parents, she decided to try it in school.

Ever since she was able to walk and think by herself, she had been taking care of herself and at the same time act as the experiment model for her parents. It wasn't an understatement to her that she should care about life, because she really didn't care that much about it, she sometimes drown herself in thoughts along the lines of why was she ever born.

Annabeth was numb all her life. She wasn't exactly lost, but she really had no idea what she could do. She knew a lot about the black market and about murdering, including all the kinds of weapons and surveillance. As much as her parents tried to hide everything from her, her sneaky trait allowed her to discover everything that her parents didn't want her to know about. With the environment that she grew up in, it had occurred to her naturally that she was sensitive about everything and cautious about everything she did.

And that became one of the advantages that she had in prison, also one of the many reasons why she could be the head and not the others in cell.

It was obvious and displayed everywhere on her that she didn't have a childhood, and she didn't have a family. When she got involved with Luke in high school, it wasn't mutual attraction, it was only because Luke found her special and significantly different from others in the society, and vice versa.

Annabeth didn't think that she had the ability to have feelings for anyone, because she never thought that was necessary. Luke on the other hand, was just someone that she felt like she had many things in common with.

When Percy told her that he wanted to know more about her, she was startled. When she started her relationship with Luke, it was nothing like the way normal people did. They didn't go out on dates, they were nothing romantic. Luke never asked her to tell him about herself, and she never asked him to do the same. All her life until she got in to jail, she had been surrounded by illegal dealers. To her, drugs were norm and murders were what people's life depend on.

"Did you tell him much?" Piper's voice shook her out of her thoughts once again, it was the fourth time this morning that her thoughts were interrupted.

"No." Annabeth snapped back, irritated by her constantly cutting her thread of thoughts.

"What really happened?" Piper didn't seemed to get the hint, it was rare for her to act this bold.

"Nothing that concerns you." Her irritation was hardly concealed from her voice, she glared at Piper, making up a plan to have Piper pay later.

¢.¢

Despite Annabeth's vexed attitude towards Piper, and her alienating action towards her, Piper, curious as ever, turned her attention to Jason, wanting to get something out of him.

"Do you know something that I don't?" She asked Jason. For some reason, she felt like they were all hiding stuff from her.

"Depends." He answered honestly. "What area are you referring to?"

"Annabeth."

"And there's a lot about her, which aspect are you talking about?"

"Tell me everything you know."

"Why?"

"Why are you hiding it from me? Jason, I thought you trust me, aren't relationships build on trusts?" She sounded hysterical, but she was only desperate for information, because Annabeth had been distant lately and it made her felt powerless. She had been depending on Annabeth ever since she got in here.

"It's simply not my place to say." Jason shrugged, knowing that he was offending Piper, but also know that there was nothing he could do. "Why do you want to know anyways? You're going to be out of here soon."

"She's my friend, and I want to help."

"But she doesn't seemed to want your help."

"Why are you doing this?"

"What am I doing?"

"Why are you not telling me all this? Why are you defending her?"

"I'm not defending her." Jason was still calm, whereas Piper was ready to jump up from her chair and struck him. "I'm simply keeping my words."

"You know her personally?"

Jason said nothing, but that simple nod from him explained everything.

"How?"

Looking at the door and around the room, he pondered how to phrase everything so that he would tell Piper what she needed to know and not leak out anything.

"School." Jason settled for a simple answer that would allow Piper some space to use her imagination. "We met in school and that's how we know each other."

"Are you still talking to her?"

"No. What I have with her is entirely different with what we have between us, please don't act all jealous and angered when we talk about her." He asked her gently, hoping that he didn't make the wrong decision by keeping his mouth shut.

Piper sighed; she was a rational person, she always had been and she knew that if someone had asked her to do the same she would've done it.

For the first time, Jason ended their visit earlier than usual, and he walked Piper back to her cell. A privilege of his as the son of the warden. As they were walking past the visiting area, they spotted two blondes. Luke and Annabeth.

Jason caught his gaze and nodded at him subtly, in which he returned to the same degree. Annabeth narrowed her eyes at Jason than at Piper, she wasn't exactly favoring Piper at the time.

"How much does that chick know?" Luke turned back to Annabeth, referring to Piper.

"Not much." Annabeth's eyes were still trained on Piper's retreating back, at that point, she wasn't sure if she could trust Jason anymore.

"He said nothing." Luke read her mind and reassured her. "I talked to Jason recently, and he said she didn't know much."

"She shouldn't, especially she'll be out of here in months." Annabeth spat.

"Heartless." Luke commented on her attitude towards what he thought would be a valuable friend.

"Am I?" Annabeth raised a challenging eyebrow. "I still have three more years to serve in prison." She exhaled, blowing every air that came out of her mouth on to his face.

"Jackson?"

"What about him?" Annabeth's attention was dragged back to her conversation once again, her thoughts about Piper gone for the time being.

"Anything I need to know?"

"Nah. He's in good use currently."

Luke nodded, they fell into a comfortable silence.

"You should really focus on your career, I will try my best to help from here, but you should stop visiting." Annabeth's voice was suddenly low and guarded, she was looking around as she spoke.

"Why?" Luke looked up at her with the same guarded pair of eyes that she held.

"No one knows that you're carrying out my commands, let along knowing that I'm in charge. I know people that you can contact, but you'll have to listen to me and work with me. I'm not out of her in another three years, you'll be my only hope in succeeding." She explained to him in a rush in an undertone, afraid that they'd be heard by the guards.

"How am I supposed to contact you then?" He used the same tone, suddenly serious and discussing business.

"For now, you don't need to contact me." She glanced around, sending a charming smile to the guard walking past and behind her to smile at Jason who was just walking past the entrance. "Keep an eye on Jason. He's know enough from ten years ago." She said, referring to the time when they were still friend back in school.

When Annabeth was still in school, Jason and Luke were her closest friends. The trio were devious and always pranking, but never got into serious trouble with the teachers. They would always look at drugs and all kinds of trafficking together. But as they grew older, Jason started to distant himself from them, he was more decent and obedience to the regulations, which left Annabeth with Luke. The trio still hang out together and talk about stuff, but they stopped getting him involved with the more serious stuff they were up to.

The summer when Luke got arrested for shoplifting, Annabeth was just lucky enough to slip through the fingers of the video tape caught on camera. That summer, she had spent it with Jason and she had filled him in about all sorts of acts that she had been doing, only because she felt lonely. It was the only summer that she spent without violating any laws.

Jason became a lawyer and Luke dropped out of college to pursue his dream as a trafficker. It was when Jason found out about the real identity of Annabeth's family. With Annabeth's help, using the influence of her mother and father, he started to work under the two associations, acting as an intermediary for the drug lord and the serial killer.

A year later, Annabeth and Jason met again. In the cell that Jason's father was the warden of. Jason, once again, became the only visitor of Annabeth's. She was lucky that Jason had never thought of her in a negative way, he had always thought she needed help, mentally, due to her childhood life. So when Bianca Di Angelo appeared in the prison cell he thought Annabeth might be saved.

Though, with his genuine intention in mind, he was still proved wrong.

* * *

 **A/N: Penny for your thoughts.**


	5. V

**This chapter is shorter than the other ones because it is more of an informative one, just to help with everything that will happen in the future. Some things are revealed and some are still hidden, but in the end, everything will come to light.**

 **There will be a very long note at the bottom, so please take your time to read it.**

* * *

"I've been thinking lately." Annabeth said in a calm voice, to Percy, surprisingly. There was no cigaret in her hand and no Piper around.

"Yes?" Percy replied cautiously.

"I can give you a list, verbally, of what I can tell you and what I cannot." She offered, surprising Percy the second time in this passed minute.

"Okay." Was the only word that he could utter, because he had been dreaming of this moment for a long time. "What do you want from me in return then?"

"Nothing." Strike three.

"What?" He stuttered, the respond was giving him creeps. It was impossible for him to get something from her without offering something back, it didn't feel right.

"I'm serious. Will you accept it before I change my mind?" Her voice was calm and collected, although it was still that raspy scratchy voice, but something with her tone of voice still soothed him.

The last time he came to talk to her, he crossed the line and she left, but this time, she was offering to tell him what would be considered as offensive to her before. He nodded, that was the only gesture he could think of.

"Anything I see fit." She announced once she acknowledged his response.

"What?" He was confused, thinking that she'd actually give him a list.

"There, my list, I've given you already." She smirked at the dumbfounded face of the Hollywood director.

"Okay." He nodded, accepting defeat. "Okay, fine. If that's all you're going to tell me." Reaching in his inner pocket, he pulled out a small glass bottle of beverage.

"Gin?" She recognized the bottle immediately, it was the kind that her parents had in their bedrooms all the time. It was almost like something they couldn't live without at home.

"Yep." He handed it to her. "From your birthday."

"Huh?" She questioned, completely caught off guard by his declaration. "What did you just say?" Not believing what she might be hearing, she requested to hear it again.

"It was from your birthday, a gift from your parents."

"How'd you know and get ahold of it?"

"She gave it to me, with your father present as well."

"What for?" She knew that what he meant was that her parents threatened him to accept it, but she wanted to know why.

"They said nothing, because they walked into my house and placed it in my safe then left without a word. With your father present, I am more concerned with my life than what was inside my safe."

Annabeth pondered, examining the bottle closely for a possible clue, but it was just like all other bottles that she had seen in her house. She had absolutely no idea, nothing had clicked in her mind. She overheard everything her parents talked about, but nothing just seemed to surface when this glass bottle showed up.

"Have you opened it before?"

The only odd was that this bottle was heavier in weight than she remembered, though her memory may be too fuzzy to be accurate. Dismissing that thought, she waited for his answer.

He shook his head, mouthing the word 'nope' as he did so.

"Did they tell you anything else?"

He repeated the same gesture.

"Why are you telling me this now?"

"I just remembered it and I'm only giving it back. I thought you'd want to have it." He shrugged, really not seeing the seriousness of all this mystery. Then again, he had no idea what her parents really do.

"You should be giving this to me on my birthday to spare you everything." She sighed, unscrewing the cap slowly and carefully after shaking it near her ear. Even though she had already had a good guess of what might be inside, she still had to make sure of it.

"Spare me what?" He raised an eyebrow, truly confused.

"The unnecessary consequences you might face." She informed, still focusing on the bottle in her hand. "Anything else associated with my family?" She asked, glancing at him as she lifted up one side of the cap, enough for her to sniff the liquid contained.

"Not that I can think of." He eyed her every movement, but didn't question the reason behind any of those. "Do you know?"

She shrugged, not intending to answer his question nor tell him about what was inside.

"Then this should be your last visit." She ordered, feeling the necessity to cut him off with her. "Forget about this film you're going to make about me, or just find Piper for the information you're going to need for this film about prison. I'm sorry I can't help you." She said, screwing the top back tightly and secured it, checking it thoroughly before clipping it between her waistband and her skin. "You should go." She suggested forcibly.

"Give me one good reason to do so." He found her actions odd and he was even more confused.

"I can't help you." She looked into his eyes, for this rare occasion, she held her stare. "I can guide you to people that you'll need in order for you to be successful in that movie and to be accurate enough to fool the audience, but I'm not the one." She stared back at him, not giving out anything from her eyes.

Annabeth's routine had been interrupted by all the visits, starting from Percy's. Luke was a regular visitor, but the information he had been feeding her was not what she had expected. Then there was Jason and Piper. She knew she had to make up for her actions for when she was young, but she also didn't want to cut off Piper completely, because even if she wouldn't admit it to anyone, she still liked her.

"Go to Piper and Jason, they can tell you everything you'll need." Her voice was certain and determined.

"Okay. If you insist." He sighed dejectedly, standing up and starting to make his way out of the dark corner that they had been chatting in the past several times.

"Wait," she called before he disappeared completely. "How much do you know about me?"

"Enough." Was all he said before he vanished around the corner, behind the wall with a smirk evident on his face.

A smile appeared on her face uncontrollably, "enough," she repeated the word, letting it roll off her tongue smoothly. "Percy Jackson." She laughed wholeheartedly to herself, then lit up a cigaret from the pack that he left her. "You have no idea how much I know about you."

¢.¢

Annabeth was in prison for a charge that was never announced; she didn't have a trial and she was stripped from any of the rights that a prisoner or a criminal should have. Her case was so special and abnormal that the head of judicial system questioned about it. However, no matter how corrupted her case had been shown, her sentence was never allowed to be changed and everything that had been done was ordered to remain as it was. What everyone knew was the fact that she was the daughter of two infamous most wanted criminals in the entire country, and she was most likely paying for them to satisfy the protesters and victims of her parents'.

Percy had been gone for several months now.

The last time they talked was still in winter, and now it was already warm enough for her to wear a thin fabric outdoor.

Piper had left. She had been released just a week ago.

"Hey," Annabeth said, approaching Piper who was packing her stuff. Her bed emptied, a set of chess on the night stand. She turned around and sat on edge of her cleared bed, patting the side inviting Annabeth to have a seat.

"You didn't talk to me for a very long time, why now?" Piper asked, her tone sounded accusing, but her eyes showed hurt.

"I'm sorry." Annabeth apologized, and it was the first apology she said that she actually meant. "I really am, I didn't mean to do that. There's just a lot happening. I'm sure Jason told you something about me."

"Not much though, he said he wasn't allowed to say it, something about he promised you." She huffed, clearly unhappy.

"Piper," Annabeth placed a hand on the brunette's knee. "What he knows is the past, don't dwell on it, it won't do you any good if you know about them. You are happy with him and you are now free, stop thinking about me and my past with him, focus on your future with him. He won't tell you because he promised me not to, but that doesn't mean he doesn't trust you." That was the most sentimental thing she had ever said to anyone, yet she felt right saying it to Piper. "I truly valued you as my friend, but I need you to promise me one thing."

She nodded.

"Say it." Annabeth asked gently, although her voice still commanding.

"I promise."

"Okay, swear to me that you will forget me and never try to contact me once you're out of here." Annabeth looked at her directly in the eyes, the stern look made Piper look away. "Look at me and swear it Piper."

"Why is this so important? What harm can it have if I visit you in the future?" She cried.

"That's something I don't want you to ever understand, Piper." Annabeth's voice remained the same. "Just swear it to me."

"I swear I will do what I'm told."

"Good." Annabeth looked satisfied, she stood up, reached for the chess board and the pieces. "Keep them if you want to, I made them myself." She placed in it on her bed and left without another word.

Piper gaped at her back, tears streaming down her face. She couldn't say anything, not because she didn't want to, but because she didn't know what to say.

Stuffing the gift in to her rucksack, she shouldered it and headed towards the entrance where Jason was waiting for her with a car. The outside world didn't change much, at least to her, it was still somewhat similar to the one that she left behind two years ago.

¢.¢

There was no love in Annabeth's family, but that wasn't entirely true. She had two loving grandparents that had died when she was very little. Even though her memories of them were fading, but they were still there in her heart somewhere.

Upon Piper's departure, an old wound had been ripped open once again.

The next three years was spent like old times. Fucking the guards and smuggling things in. She was still that same influential Crime Lord, but she was constantly reminded of the people that she cared about that had been teared away from her.

First it was her grandparents, then it was Bianca, now it was Piper; apart from them, there were another group of people that she felt responsible for. Luke, Percy and Jason.

Her grandparents loved her, but they died early, leaving a small indelible mark. When Bianca arrived, that mark seemed to have been forgotten, but what happened to Bianca only made the mark cut deeper in Annabeth. Piper's stay was the shortest, however, it was during her stay that made Annabeth realize how important she might be in all the events.

Bianca was scapegoated, just like her. However, unlike her, Bianca was inexperienced and innocent. She had no idea what she was in for and she was lost. Annabeth took her in, because something in her told her that there was someone out there who wanted Bianca dead.

Even till this day, Annabeth still had not yet solve the Bianca mystery. Nonetheless, it didn't stop her from thinking back to the time with her.

Just a year after she got in to prison and recently secured her place in the cell, Bianca joined her. The nineteen year-old Annabeth was still ambitious and enthusiastic, her energy from high school was still not yet diminished. From all the years of survival in the black market and the dangerous criminal world, she relied on her gut intuition more than anything, and this time, something in her gut told her to watch out for this newbie. She made this her mission.

She had an idea on everyone's background, and was almost certain of everyone's releasing time. Knowing that the mole in prison would be someone that would be bailed out soon, she narrowed down to a list of suspects, but never got around to who.

Annabeth was so in to this mission that she assigned herself, she even asked Bianca whether or not she was allergic to anything, but the answer she got was none.

"No, not that I could think of. Why?" Bianca replied, still in her gentle kind voice.

Annabeth could remember that she would always tell her.

"You're nice, way too nice, Bianca." Though Annabeth didn't know if it was a compliment or that she envied it, or perhaps a warning, but it was something that she constantly tell her.

Whenever she said that to B, her reply would always be the same, with the same smile. "You think so?" The same shy, nervous laugh would escape her lips.

Thinking back from hindsight, Annabeth missed her. She was totally different than Piper, but she somehow valued her the same as she did to Piper.

Annabeth was only a year older than Bianca, but she had been through a lot more than she had. With all the poison that she had swallowed since she was a toddler, Annabeth found out that she had a great immune system, especially when it comes to drugs and poisons.

To prevent people from hearing them, she would always bring Bianca out on the field when she asked her about herself, and anything that might cause her death directly or indirectly. Annabeth had even checked her food before she ate them. With her knowledge on chemicals, drugs and poisons, Annabeth was confident that she would prevent Bianca been poisoned.

In order to protect her fully, Annabeth never explained to her of her overprotective behavior. Bianca was always this patient and nice girl, but one day, she was vexed and irked for some reason, and left for lunch without Annabeth.

It was only a matter of minutes to take her life.

When Annabeth arrived the cafeteria and over to her, one look at her food and one sniff of her plate, she knew it was too late already.

"Bianca, stop!" She pushed the fork and the plate away from her. Bianca was already puking.

"What is happening?" Bianca choked in between fits of vomits. Annabeth held her hair, deep down she knew there was nothing she could do to save her, but she didn't know how to break the news to her.

As Bianca finished, Annabeth asked her how she was feeling, she said better, and Annabeth's fear had been confirmed.

"Come." She helped her up and led her to the medical room of the prison. Before they left, Annabeth took a good look at what Bianca puked out, she knew the poison was something along the lines of something as simple as some kind of detergent.

"How can you not taste it?" She muttered to herself, Bianca was too exhausted to register the mumble from Annabeth.

"Fuck off!" She yelled at the prisoner on duty in the medical center, rushing around, she forced Bianca to rinse her mouth with water, and finish the rest. Then she took out a tongue depressor, pressing down at the back of her throat, trying to make her vomit, because she hadn't been eating much and it shouldn't've reach her stomach just yet.

Just when she was about to succeed with making her vomit, she was been pried off.

"What the fuck are you doing?" A guard yelled in her ear, Annabeth tried to fight them off, but there were too many of them. Bianca was helplessly staring at her, her face turning white and the hand she had pressing down the back of her tongue was starting to feel numb and soft. The depressor slipped out of her hand, she slipped on to the floor, her head to one side.

"Someone just fucking do something." Annabeth yelled with the top of her lungs, because of all the noises and chaos in the room, no one was able to hear her and no one dared to move, because they have not seen that many guards at once before.

Enraged, Annabeth jumped out of their grasp and gave each and all of the guards a strike, just to take her anger out. Bianca was already unconscious beside them, but her body was still twitching and shaking. Annabeth couldn't do anything anymore to help her revive, so she knew she would be in the black room, might as well let her anger out before she goes into the room.

That incident wasn't her fault, but she failed her own mission, and that was what changed her.

Now that Piper was another Bianca to her, she only wished that Jason would be decent enough to look out for her outside of prison. She didn't want another Bianca incident. Now that Nico hated her because of his sister and Piper could be in potential danger because of her association with herself.

Perhaps letting Percy and Luke go was the right choice.

¢.¢

Her parents' organization merged and was now in her hands with the help of Luke. Luke's job was to keep the organization running underground and keep their standing in the black market. It was running smoothly, and they haven't been caught many times.

But even if the legacy was still safe and sound, other things from her past started to stir, things that Luke wasn't able to help with.

¢.¢

Percy, Jason and Luke were the three people that she felt responsible for, but all to different extent. She trusted Luke to be her ears and eyes in the merged associations and trusted Jason to keep Piper away from her, but Percy was a completely different story.

If Annabeth's criminal history started when she was in high school, then Luke and Jason were definitely accomplices. Jason would keep Piper out of everything and Annabeth would keep Jason out of everything to ensure the two a peaceful life. Luke was devoted to the organization and Annabeth was now in charge. Percy however, was never in the picture, until her parents dragged him in.

It was all about Gin.

* * *

 **Again, this story won't be as long, it's only mid-length, I don't know why I'm explaining it, but I just felt like I should remind you that this may be finished before you know it. I like writing long stories, but it's time consuming, so I have to cut it short and narrate one big event at a time. This will only be about ten (at the least) or so chapters.**

 **For those who were there with me when I first started writing and posted** _Love You Goodbye_ **(formerly known as** _Same Old Love_ **) might remember that I've said something about rewriting it and reposting it under the former name, but it had been more than half a year and nothing came. Well, I do remember my promise and I do intend on keeping it, however, it's kind of hard to make myself write when I am blocked. For those who are waiting, please take this story as my redemption for failing you all. I will keep trying to make it up to you. After all, this story has a somewhat similar property than** _Love You Goodbye_ **(or** _Same Old Love_ **). This may not be as long as I intend it to be, or not even as long as** _Love You Goodbye_ **(or** _Same Old Love_ **), but I hope it will achieve the effect that I wish to reach in** _Love You Goodbye_ **(or** _Same Old Love_ **). I'm sure you have all forgotten about this previous story I'm talking about, so let's just forget about it and take this as new start. :) Please tell me if I'm starting to confuse you.**

 **I know that my updates are not consistent so some of you may have to read the previous chapter in order to remind yourself of the plot of the story. I'm truly sorry about it, but I can't update faster because I've got other things to do other than this story. I know that I'm not providing enough information for all characters, but I also want to let loose each piece of information slowly. I will try my best to give as much as I can in detail.**

 **Lastly, please stick to my profile page for general updates on my writing (or whatever) status.**


	6. VI

**Author's Notes at the bottom.**

* * *

 _It was all about Gin._

Athena and Fredrick wasn't the mob couple that you'd imagine — those with an icy cold facade when facing the public but an amazingly warm relationship behind closed doors. They only married each other for the sake of their career. There had been love, but not the kind for another human being, it was the kind for their shared passion — chemicals.

It was everywhere in their house. Annabeth remembered it clearly. In the kitchen cabinet, on the island counter, in most drawers, even in the night stand stocked those gin bottles. The glasses were of different brand, from different ages; full or empty. What always bothered her was not the fact that the house was practically a gin storage room, but the reason behind all those collections. Even with all the diversity, they were still basically the same at first sight. The question had bugged her for all her childhood and teenage years, but with her rapport with her parents and the tension in the house, she never dared to voice her question aloud.

The family atmosphere taught Annabeth never to question and never to appear in front of visitors, all she needed to do was to listen and observe. Just stay hidden. Her parents were not unknown of her sneaky activities, but, they were not particularly bothered by it either. In the end, they shut one eye about everything she could potentially acknowledge.

As she grew older, gained more knowledge from school, she would make her way to the lab dungeon of her parents when they were not at home and examine all the experiments and materials they stocked. Nothing surprised her, it was all expected. However, one thing caught her eyes especially and that image was forever engraved in her memory.

It was an ordinary afternoon after school. She turned down her block after saying goodbye to Luke, her parents' were not home yet, as usual. Annabeth let herself in with her set of keys and dropped her bag into her room immediately. As one of her usual routine when her parents' were not home was to have a walk around the house. The main purpose of that was to take a look at the gin bottles. Although she also took in the changes within the placement of the house, she was more curious in where the glasses were and what they contained.

If the glasses changed a position than the last time she checked, it meant that one of her parents' must've found something new.

The walk from her room to her parents' was long. Though not physically but mentally. It was down the hallway at the very end, but she felt like all the pressure around her was closing on her. Perhaps it was because what she had in mind was risky, the only thought that she had to prop herself forward was that her parents' wouldn't be home for a while.

The room was still the same as they were the last time she entered. As expected, the only difference was the placement of the gin bottles and what was contained within.

Despite all the wrapping and bottling that Annabeth fancied when she walked into their beverage storage, the short fat gin glass bottles seemed to her to be the symbol of their family, at least of their residential house. The liquid in each bottle were all colorless, but only three people knew what it actually was.

It wasn't gin.

Finding it usual, she left their room. Mentally saving the image and the displacement of every bottle, she made her way down to the dungeon, or the basement referring to it in a better way.

Although everything looked unchanged at first sight and not very closely, it felt different.

Everything did. Annabeth felt it.

Because it wasn't gin.

There wasn't any normal gin left in the house, they were all mixed with other chemicals or drugs that were to be shipped from a place to another without getting caught by securities. Dissolved in those drinks were the properties of The Drug Lord, Athena and her husband Frederick. The colors were still somewhat similar to the originals, however, without an original sample, no one was able to see the difference. Only Annabeth.

From all the observation and sneaking around, she was able to master the process and the product of everything coming from her parents. The color of the gin could be easily differentiated by her with one close up look, the smell of the fluid could easily sell out the substances contained with one sniff, the concentration of the material added could easily be detected by one shake of the bottle and a simple weighing. Only Annabeth mastered it, though.

Down in the dungeon, she pushed open the heavy metal doors that were perfectly merged with the wall surrounding it. She didn't have to take a step in to notice the change and realize what was going on. Putting the pieces together, she figured out everything, and now it was up to her to decide whether to follow the socially desired morale or the ones she grew up with.

The answer was revealed more than decades later: in a form that she would never have dreamt of, to a person that she would never imagine to exist.

¢.¢

It was three years later.

Annabeth was done serving her sentencing in jail, and before she knew it, she had been kicked out. To be perfectly honest, she was far from prepared. She'd dream of this day the day she entered, but she had long forgotten the sensation of freedom.

Ya know what Morgan Freeman would say? 'These walls are funny. First you hate 'em, then you get used to 'em. After long enough, you get so you depend on 'em. That's "institutionalized".'

Luckily for Annabeth, the former most influential person in the prison, was assigned a half-way house to get used to the society after being separated from it for ten whole years. She had no adolescence, it was spent behind bars. She may be the most influential and experienced person in cell, but she would be deprived from this title the second she stepped out of the metal bar doors and into the society that she was supposed to long for.

The half-way house was everything that she had currently. She got a job as a cater waitress in a restaurant with a wage just enough for her to pay for her daily essentials. The highest she was ever paid was serving at a grand celebration, she got a little more tip than she usually would.

Three years ago, a Hollywood star came to her, but she turned him down. She only hoped that his film was successful, although she had no idea if he actually went to Piper and Jason for information. Just because of him, she asked for television access in her room, hoping that she could see a glimpse of him.

It wasn't like her to remember a person that had nothing to do with her for such a long time, but it was like her to remember him because he might get himself in trouble if she wasn't there to pull him out.

Annabeth was looking for Percy, for a reason that Percy could never have figured out himself.

Percy was looking for Annabeth, for a better reason, to go to a movie premium.

¢.¢

"You contributed to it." He told her.

"Why?" She would ask, again.

"Annabeth," he would explain to her again, with his infinite patience with her.

"I know, I know, you said that I contributed to it greatly." She would cut him off and summarize what he kept trying to tell her, something that she still wouldn't believe. "But I didn't provide shit to it, I was jus there to kick you out and bribe for your stuff. A gold-digging whore." She reasoned.

"No, you're not a whore." He looked as if he was in pain, seeing her talking bad of herself.

"Percy, you don't understand and you better never understand what you're getting yourselves into by associating yourself with me." She was now almost panicking.

"Enlighten me then." He asked gently, still patient with her, trying to get to know her better. "This movie was based on your life and the majority was based on you. You inspired it." He was still trying to persuade her to go, not knowing that this would be her argument instead of some other hard core reason.

"My name never appeared on the movie right? It was never on the credit? Tell me it's not." She pleaded, suddenly fearing that her name would be exposed to thousands and millions of people that could potentially made her life even harder than it could be.

He shook his head. "No." Voicing it to reassure her even further. "I wouldn't do that without your consent."

She nodded, calming down, and asserting her eyes from him. She said nothing further. The silence between them started to made him uncomfortable, he shifted his weight from one leg to another.

"So," he broke the silence, feeling the air pressuring him to make a move to ease the tension. "Will you go to the premium with me? It's my first movie not as an actor, I really want you to go with me." He asked.

Annabeth looked up and stared at him, gazing into the earnest eyes, she couldn't see any doubt and other second thoughts. She was still hesitating, she didn't want to go in public.

"Will you?" Seeing that she wasn't answering, he asked a second time, really getting anxious with every second that was ticking past. "Please?" He begged. "Come on Annabeth."

Standing up, she walked to the door, grabbing her jacket on her way out. Percy stayed behind, staring at all her actions, he was stunned. "What are you doing?" His question was silenced by a look from her.

"Aren't you going?"

Annabeth changed. She felt it and he knew it. She wasn't the hard-core, confident chick from jail, she was the timid and quiet girl trying to hide herself from public and get her life straight, while sorting everything out.

She missed the times she spent behind bars, she missed the inmates that would bow down to her, she missed the guards that would provide her anything if she would just satisfy one of their needs. She knew that Percy shouldn't be seen with her, she knew that people would talk and news spread fast, but she felt like she was attracted to him in a way that she thought she would never felt. She liked him, wanted to talk with him, because it was fun and relieving; talking to him got everything off her mind.

"Will you be recognized by strangers?" She asked him insecurely. The concern in his voice made him look at her from her side in the car that they were sitting in.

"Yes." He sighed, knowing that she wouldn't like the answer, but he wouldn't lie to her either.

"Is it possible to not see you with me?" She whispered, not wanting him to get the wrong idea.

He stared at her, a flash of hurt passed his eyes, but she caught it. "I didn't mean it that way Percy." She tried to justify her question. "I- I'm trying to protect you… Protect you from something that you'd never understand the ins and outs." She chocked. She knew that this wouldn't sound good, but she also knew that she wasn't supposed to talk.

"Damn it, Percy." She whispered to herself, burying her face in her palms, trying to think of an alternative. "Do you trust me?" She whispered.

Percy held her eyes, those gray orbs never looked more broken. The glasses in her eyes shattered as the silence between them continued to pass on. He gaped, wanting to make sound, but nothing came out. He didn't know what to say.

"Yes." He finally whispered back.

"With everything?" She whispered timidly, not daring to look at him, but had to in order to be sure that he meant it.

"With my life."

"God, how could you do that?" She whispered in an undertone to herself, luckily he didn't hear it quite fully. "You have to trust me with this Percy, it's not because I don't want to be seen with you or because I'm ashamed of being with you, it's because I can't be seen with you. People will talk and you know enough about my past, it will affect everything. It'll ruin you." Her voice faltered at the last part.

"How?" His voice was soft and small, but worry could be detected easily.

She shook her head in desperation. "That's the most I can say." She said. "For now." Then added. "Can we just watch the premium in peace, and if you are going to meet your fans and do whatever you normally do, just know that I'll be hiding."

Percy nodded, but it wasn't wholehearted. He leaned forward and said something into his driver's ear and leaned back, not looking at Annabeth.

When they reached the cinema, the car didn't stop it just went passed. She thought they were only going from the back door, but the car made no such turn. After driving away from the crowd near the cinema and getting rid of the photographers who were instantly attracted to Percy's car, Annabeth turned to Percy with a questionable look. The direction was unknown to her, of course, it had been ten years.

"What?" He turned to her when she stared at him for long enough. Under her intense stare, he suppressed a chuckle but let out a smile.

"What? You got the cheek to ask me what? Where are you kidnapping me?" She raised a perfect eyebrow, almost glaring at him bewilderingly. She wasn't angry nor was she worried, she was just curious, because she trusted him also. They had this very special bond that none of them could put a hand on it just yet.

"You'll see." Seeing that she wasn't going to explode and give him a good beating, he smirked and winked at her.

"Percy you have to tell me where we're going, because I don't know shit about this changed city. I get scared." Annabeth whined, trying to play the prisoner card. It almost worked.

"Seriously? Annabeth?" He raised an eyebrow, stifling a laugh.

"What?'

"You're playing this card? You know I almost told you." He flashed her his toothy grin. "You know what? If you're scared, you are always welcome to snuggle closer to me." He winked at her disgusted face, reaching out for her shoulder playfully when she went the opposite direction, swatting his hands away.

"Are we nearly there?" She stared out of the window, fascinated by the scenery, or perhaps the tower buildings that they were passing.

"Yes." He nodded, his eyes fixed to the back of her head, liking the way that she was still passionate about life. A small smile settled on his face, he was just praying that no one would recognize him when he reached the destination that he had in mind.

The car went silent again, though the atmosphere in the space was light, Percy couldn't help but wonder about Annabeth's life outside of prison. He couldn't deny the fact that he wasn't only a little bit concerned about her, but in fact, very much. His worries wasn't out of pure pity, it was because he was truly into her. Ever since he was given the chance to talk to her, he had been attracted to her in a way that he couldn't even acknowledge. It was too foreign. Their feelings for each other was too abnormal for both of them, but they enjoyed it.

 _Empire State Building_

A name that had been swarming around Annabeth's mind since Percy went past the cinema, though it was until they parked when she was finally able to grasp the thought in hand and actually register it into something that she could understand. Her theory was confirmed when spotted the big sign was displayed at the entrance.

"Spontaneous?" She blurted out before she noticed what she had asked.

Percy was caught off guard by the question as he helped her off the car and through the front door of the grand building. They walked straight to the elevator. He stared at her for a second before nodding, but said nothing else. He was nervous, afraid that she wouldn't like it.

"You've mentioned that you wanted to come here." He explained, trying to justify his actions, which was unnecessary.

She furrowed her eyebrows and looked up at him as they ascend in the lift, gazing at him in curiosity.

"Who?" Annabeth was stunned by the confession. She wanted to know who told him. The short question was comprehended by him, luckily.

"Jason."

The short respond made all blood drain from her face.

"When?"

"Recently." He shrugged, but a look at her face, his relaxed facial expression turned serious and worried.

Annabeth looked away, trying to mask her pale face with a smile that would fool anyone but him.

"Annabeth, what's wrong?" He asked, trying to get her attention and to get her to look at him. One look in her eyes would tell him everything. "Please, talk to me." He almost let the word 'baby' slip out of his mouth, but he knew it would be too much for her. "You know you can trust me right?"

She said nothing. Taking a deep breath, they walked out of the elevator. A pool of people was displayed in front of them. Percy whispered something in to his driver, aka CPO's ear, with a nod, he took off to the front desk.

Before he could explain what he was doing while leading Annabeth away from the crowd, she spoke first. "Can I borrow your sunglasses?" She asked. Her voice firm and not even suggesting that she was joking.

"Why?" He asked out of curiosity, taking it off and handing it to her. She put it on and said nothing to him since then.

His bodyguard came back a few minutes later, maneuvering in between the small gaps between people who were pushing and trying to stay awake while lining up for the ticket.

"Mr Jackson." The bodyguard said, handing Percy a card.

"Thank you." Percy replied with a courtly nod and then turned to Annabeth. "I get that if you don't want to talk, so I'm going to do the talking until you're willing to say something." The way he said all that made Annabeth felt like she was someone that he was pitying, this made her extremely upset and angry; she thought he could understand him.

"So this card is for the VIP elevator that we're taking to avoid everyone." He said, handing her the card as they walk towards the lift around the corner. "You can choose whether you want to go to the top or not. It's just you and me tonight," he continue to talk and she just listened, biting her tongue to prevent herself from lashing out. When he said the last part, her eyes darted to his CPO automatically, glancing at the shadow that was following them covertly.

Percy followed her gaze and immediately understood her concerns, "oh him? Don't worry about him, he won't hear anything, his job is to watch me." He assured her whilst point at the earbuds plugged into his ears. Annabeth nodded with uncertainty, but took the card from his hand and followed him into the closed space.

The ride up was quiet, none of them spoke since they entered. It quickly brought them to the top floor, a decision made by Annabeth herself. Yawning to make his ears get used to the change half-way up made her lips move upwards a little. She did the same once they were almost there. He smiled and she reflected his expression when their eyes met. It was the only interaction they had in the box.

"Are you really not going to talk?" Percy asked, pulling her back before stepping out into the windy balcony, as if it was the last peaceful private place before being exposed to public.

Annabeth looked into his eyes and held it, trying to convey an information that she hoped he would understand. Raising an eyebrow at her, he nodded, unsure even to himself whether he understood or not.

Ushering her out of the elevator before the door closed up, they stepped into the chilly wind.

Scanning her surrounding, she thought she would witness something somewhat similar to the scene downstairs at the ticket place, but with one turn, it all changed.

It was like walking to another stage from the backstage with an insider. He led her through a corridor formed by the glass for the building and the columns supporting the ceiling of the balcony. It was getting dark, the street lanterns were already starting to light up and cars were switching to a stronger light source. They walked to the other side of the balcony where they stopped in front of a flight of stairs.

"Do you want to go to the _top_ top." He asked pointing to the stairs. She felt like she was now being treated as a toddler since she wasn't speaking. Nodding, they started to ascend the stairs.

The autumn wind at the highest point in New York City wasn't friendly as she thought it would be, the coldness pierced through her jacket and went straight through her skin reaching to her bone, sending a chill down her spine making her shiver uncontrollably. This wasn't completely unnoticed by her male company, though she didn't want him to make anything of it, he still wrapped an arm around her and pulled her closer to him.

"We can go if you're cold." He said into her ear. There really was no point of whispering when the wind would just carry your voice away even if you were shouting. She nodded in acknowledgement, grateful that he was wearing a long-sleeve and no jacket, so he had nothing to offer her. She hated when a guy lend their jackets to her when she didn't ask for it; she thought it made her look vulnerable and weak. Despite the fact that she might as well be currently.

Annabeth wasn't in a rush to stare down at the glowing city, instead, she took a three-sixty on the spot, then her eyes went back to the ground below them, as if she was searching for something. Wrapping her jacket around her body tighter unconsciously due to the strong wind, she spotted what, or perhaps who, she was looking for.

Percy followed her eyes and reached his CPO, whose eyes were darting between their general direction and the empty space around them as if someone would just jump out of nowhere.

"He's not coming up, it's just us up here." He had been trying to get her to talk to him ever since he asked her out to the premium. Thinking that maybe his bodyguard was the reason why she didn't want to talk, he specifically asked for this spot to be reserved for them only and asked his bodyguard not to follow them up here. "He won't hear us, I promise." He tried to reassure her over and over again just to make her feel secure and safe to share whatever was on her mind.

With one last uncertain and untrustworthy glance at the bodyguard below, she turned around and faced the world. Putting her forearms on the railings, she stared.

"You trust me don't you?" Her voice broke the silence and startled both of them, but she held her composure. He whipped his head to check that it was her who had just talked. Before he could give an answer, she continued, not even sparing him a glance. "Can I trust you?" Her voice was soft but firm enough to not get carried away by the wind.

Percy nodded, waiting for her to continue. From her looks, whatever she wanted to say, it would be very serious.

Annabeth shook her head, confusing him. "No, Percy. Say it. Tell me that I can trust you. Look at me in the eyes and prove to me that you can be trusted." She slowly turned her head, looking into his eyes.

He was confused and her eyes held no emotion.

"Why?" He questioned more to himself than to her, but it was also a question for her. "What're you doing?"

"It's a matter of life and death." She was dead serious, her eyes didn't leave his but his were threatening to break the eye contact.

"What? I don't understand." He didn't sound angry nor impatient, but his patience was running out slowly.

"Of course you won't. Why would I be asking you to tell me all this bullshit if you know and understands everything?" Her rhetorical question sounded so brutal that it almost wounded him, but what she was saying was logical and it was an universal truth.

"How can I prove to you that you can trust me?" He was now eager for what she had.

"With time." Came her simple answer as she turned away, getting her thoughts straight. It was hard for her to think without getting lost in his beautiful green orbs that reminded her of the peaceful ocean where freedom lies ultimately.

"Then are you going to tell me anything now?"

She nodded. "I'm trying to think of a way to explain everything to you in the simplest form."

"How complicated is all this shit?"

"Very complicated." She answered straight away, without a blink and a second thought.

"Okay." He licked his lips. The more he observed her, the less he could get from her, she wasn't giving anything away.

"You have to make a decision Percy." The tone that she was using gave him creeps. It was scaring him. Although her eyes still held no emotion, but they looked more void than ever. Her eyes were shining in the darkness with the reflection of the street lights, they were not emitting the brightness that represented happiness, but radiating off those evil vibes that foreboded the arrival of an apocalypse. "You have to choose between two people.

"Who?" He stared at the side of her face, not sure whether he was glad that she looked peaceful or nervous about the news that she was about to break to him.

Slowly, she turned to face her. The look in her eyes toned down slightly, but they would still haunt him at night. Those nightmares might never disappear, ever. In a calm, yet dangerous voice, she said.

"Jason and myself."

* * *

 **If there's something that you're confused about, please ask, and I will try to explain without giving much away, because everything comes out in the next chapter.**

 **I am so sorry for not updating for so long. I know you're all going to hate me for this, but I've got multiple chapters prepared, but for some reasons (regarding to my countless internal debates) I just didn't feel like posting it. Like I've said in my profile,** _I lack confidence_ **: I can be easily discouraged (by myself and/or by others, but mainly by myself) and hardly encouraged (more by myself than others); so long story short, simply, I have trouble believing myself. Please just understand that it's not that I've abandoned this story, it's because I can't get past some of the (useless) barriers that I've set for myself.**


	7. VII

~You'll see a reply from me at the very bottom if you're still reading it, Antisocial Idiot (Guest).

 **Author's Notes at the very end of the chapter.**

* * *

 _"You have to choose… Between Jason and myself."_

"What?" That was the only word Percy could utter out.

"You're gaping a lot lately." Annabeth commented lightly and absentmindedly, completely not in the mood for teasing and jokes.

"How long do I have to make this decision?"

"Not long." She pondered the next step she had to take, her eyes never leaving the city view.

"Can you be more precise?"

"Fine, until I leave for tonight." She rolled her eyes at him, not seeing this as a hard choice. She silently prayed that whatever his choice was, he would stick to it and not dwell in the process of decision making.

"Why do I have to make this choice?"

"You'll know once you've made it."

"I don't see how this is related to us or how it's important." He commented lightly, only voicing his own thoughts.

"Time's ticking away." She reminded him. Glancing at him, she saw that he was thinking. The gears in his brain were turning in high speed. She knew what he was doing, he was listing the pros and cons while trying to understand the reason behind this decision. "I wouldn't go through this process with anyone else other than you, Percy. I only did this because I don't want to choose for you and force you into something that you may not want to be involved in."

"What- are you talking about?" He narrowed his eyes at her, but she looked nonchalant, completely not bothered.

"Make your choice. It's for your own good." She liked the feeling of being in control, but something in her made her feel uncomfortable for putting him in this situation and in this position. "I'm sorry to do this to you, but you really have to choose." She sighed, apologizing, trying to make the other part of her feel better.

"Can I know what will happen if I choose Jason or if I choose you?"

"No." She declined without thinking.

"What if I don't make a choice?"

"Then I will make it for you, and I can't promise you that you'd like it."

"What will you choose for me?"

"I have more options than you do, Percy." Her tone sounded evil. It was far from the innocent voice that he had slowly gotten used to since the time he picked her up. It sounded just like her attitude back in jail. At that instant, he knew that this was her area, and it was what she was confident in. It was what she knew. Being completely institutionalized after being released, this was the first time that she felt she was back to the position that she belonged to. "After all, it's me that'll be in control." She smirked.

The Crime Lord from jail was surfacing, and Percy didn't know whether to be scared and flee or to embrace the danger.

"Can I change my mind afterwards?"

"No," she knew the answer all along, and she was prepared for either choices, "you got one chance and that will be it."

"Can I at least know a little bit more about what I'm getting into?" He pleaded.

"If you choose me, then you'll be cut away from Jason completely, utterly and totally. If you choose him, then you'll be cut away from me in every way possible and available." She concluded, summarizing the next step, taking pity on him and getting him out of his misery.

Percy groaned into his hands.

"I know it's a painful decision, Percy, that's why I'm giving you until midnight."

"Don't you have a curfew?" He looked up in surprise.

"I do." She nodded in all seriousness, but the defiance look in her eyes told him that it never bothered her. It was her natural ability to defy rules and regulations, even if she just came out of jail. "I have all the time in the world."

Time went past quickly. They didn't talk, but from time to time, she would turn and stare at him, covertly admiring his glowing face under the building lights. He would sense her stare and turn to look at her, but her eyes would move away the second he turned. When she knew that he caught her staring, a smile would creep up to her face and she would mirror his expression, failing to suppress the happy face that she refused to show. The air between them were light and dark at the same time. The subtle interaction lightened the mood, but the question was bogging them down.

It was nearly midnight: Annabeth was way past her curfew and she wasn't the slightest worried; Percy's deadline was nearing and he had absolutely no idea who to choose.

"To put you out of your misery and ease your worries, Percy." Annabeth's tone was light and gentle, but it still held weight. "I'll help you a bit."

That caught his attention, waiting for her to continue, he shifted his weight from one leg to another and leaned against the railing with his side.

"One major advise," she held up one finger, "follow your heart."

Percy rolled his eyes, finding the advise very helpful at that phase of the time.

"Okay, fine, sorry." She chuckled. "That didn't really help." The smile still hadn't vanish yet, surprising him but he didn't show. "You'll get to know more about me and you might get a chance to reunite with Jason again in the future, depending on how things go. However," she started to list the obvious pros and cons for both choices, obviously leaning towards the choice that she wanted him to make. "If you are to choose Jason over me, then this will be our last time together and from now on, you'll know nothing about me and till the day you die, you're not going to hear a single word about me; you will be living your life as if I don't exist and there is absolutely no chance of you meeting me ever again." This was exaggerated, because she wanted him to choose her, but it was true. While he might hear stuff about her, he would definitely not see her again.

It was rather overt to Percy that Annabeth wanted him to choose her, but he also knew that she wouldn't admit it to him. Part of him wanted to choose her, because he genuinely liked her and was interested in her, but another part of him also didn't want to give up his friendship with Jason.

This internal debate had kept him up all night. He still hadn't been able to give her an answer. Handing his life to fate, he decided to let Annabeth choose, because he couldn't bear the thought of loosing both of them. He knew that she would most likely choose herself, but it was still possible that she would choose Jason for him. He struggled to decide who he wanted right that moment. Choosing her seemed more beneficial than choosing him.

"Your time's up, Percy." She said, stepping out of the car in front of her half-way house. "So," she held on to the door, "if you're not to grasp this last chance and give me an answer," she paused to cause an effect, closing the door slowly, "this is goodbye." She let out the last three words slowly, dragging each syllable.

"Wait." Came his voice before she could fully slam the door shut. He pushed open the door, standing outside of the car. "You helped me decide already?" Grabbing her wrist, he pulled her back to him.

"I've made the decision long ago, Percy." She whispered to him in the softest tone he'd ever heard from him. "But you still don't know what it is." When he leaned closer to her, she didn't back away. He hovered above her lips, staring in to her eyes. The mixed emotions were sending him mixed signals, but he believed that he saw the attention she granted to his parted lips. Darting his eyes down at her lips again, he silently asked for permission.

He didn't know why he wanted a kiss, maybe it was because he thought it was the last time they would see each other.

"Can I?" He asked in the lowest voice, almost mouthing the two words. She nodded and closed her eyes. Timidly and hesitantly, he closed the gap between their lips. His hand came to cup her cheek, caressing it with his thumb. She allowed her hand to travel up his sweater and to the nape of his neck, pulling him closer.

He took her bottom lip in his teeth, nipping it teasingly, tugging it gently as a request for permission to slide his tongue in. She granted him. Sticking her tongue out to meet with his in the middle.

There in the car, he thought she would reject him; but here outside the car, she was kissing him back with the same passion that he was trying to convey to her. His only wish was that her passion was just as genuine as his.

"You should really go in, I don't want to get you in trouble." He panted slightly, letting his forehead rest on hers.

Her hands stroke the short spikes at the nape.

"Why?" She asked, wanting to know why he kissed her.

"I don't know." He whispered back, genuinely lost and confused by his own emotions. His eyes left hers for a brief second when he thought of an appropriate answer. "I thought this is the last time that I will see you."

"So you decide to just kiss me?" She wasn't going to make it easy for him.

"Yes." He wasn't ashamed of playing along, he was more than experienced with this shit.

"And does that count as taking advantage of me?" She teased.

"Depends, though I thought you loved it just as much as I did." He pretended to muse over her question.

Annabeth couldn't help but smiled, she stood on her tip toe, leaned up to him and gave him a soft peck on the lips. "You wish." She winked.

Before she could enter the house, he called her.

"Does that mean this won't be the last?"

"I don't know what you're talking about, Mr Jackson." She replied over her shoulder, a smirk clearly laced in her tone.

¢.¢

The premium was successful. The only regret was that the main producer and director wasn't able to be present. It struck up tons of questions of who this was based on and only a few knew. Upon the few, two were there, in vain hope that they would meet the crew, and more specifically the director himself.

Piper and Jason heard the new release of this movie, so they went, knowing that the crew must be there for promotion, but what they didn't know about was who he was bringing.

Three years ago, when Percy appeared in the cell for Annabeth, Piper knew that their relationship wouldn't be simple in the future. It was furthermore confirmed when Annabeth started to talk to him. She just had a feeling that it wouldn't be simple and their relationship wouldn't be normal, considering their reputation in public.

When Piper left cell, the words from Annabeth left her puzzled, but she wasn't able to get ahold of her later on. She begged Jason to help her, but he refused.

"Piper, I would do anything for you, but this is just off limit." He once told her sternly, declining her request once and for all. "Annabeth's different, you don't know her and you won't want to." He warned her. "So give up trying, Pipes."

"Then tell me what you know that I don't." She accused him of hiding things from her, but as much as he didn't want to ruin their information, he also didn't want to dig up the memories.

"Pipes, please, listen to me and believe me on this." He begged. "I don't want this to ruin our relationship. I can only tell you that what she did for you was the best solution to resolve the problem."

"What's the problem? Jason, what are you hiding from me?" She was furious, but the rational part of her knew that when it comes to Annabeth, it was complicated.

"I don't even know." He confessed. "What she told me was more than ten years ago, but I'm not allowed to say anything. Piper, you trust her don't you?" He could only play this card to get her to drop the topic. She nodded. "So please do so all the way. I'm begging you. I will tell you what I can when time comes, for now, can we just live our life without her?"

Three years later, at the premium, this conversation was once again brought up. The subject was inevitable, both of them knew it, it was only a matter of time that they would fight over it.

Jason thought he might get a chance to see her alone and ask for consent, she thought she might just get to see her again and maybe ask her to explain. But in the end, none of them even spot the director, let alone the blonde.

"Can you just tell me please? It won't harm right?" She pleaded, bugging her about Annabeth once again.

"Then let's go somewhere more private." He finally gave in.

That night, when Jason made Piper swear on her life that she would never ever mention anything that he told her, Luke was jotting down every single detail that he had exposed. The latter considered this one successful mission that didn't fail his boss, he wouldn't let her down again.

So when Annabeth closed the door of her half-way house, a man in black was seated in her arm chair, marijuana lit in his hand, pinned between his fingers. Her heart skipped a beat, it was a bit of a deja vu for her, but calmed down as she flickered on the light.

Without uttering a word, she walked up to the guy, snatching the drug from him and putting it in her mouth, she held out her palm, waiting for him to start his business.

"How's your date with the movie star?" He teased.

"Cut the crap Luke." She chastised sharply.

"Jeez, the attitude." He kidded one last time before switching an expression under her glare. "They were at the premium, hoping that they would see you." He got straight to the point. Obviously, 'they' were Jason and Piper, but no one else would've known.

"I thought I've warned them."

"Apparently not enough of a threat."

"I don't wish to threaten them."

"Maybe you should start considering it."

Annabeth rolled her eyes at his suggestion.

"Anyways," Luke took the silence as an opportunity to continue his report, "he told her."

"Everything?" Annabeth's eyes almost bulged out, her absent mind was no longer absent, she was now listening to what he got intently.

He shook his head, making her let out a relieved sigh. "Not everything, just the old shits, nothing important."

"Recording?" She raised an eyebrow, hoping that he hadn't forgotten his instructions from years ago. He pulled out a MP3 from his pocket and handed to her, she pocketed it after examining it for a while. "What does she know now?"

Luke nodded towards the carrier that he just handed her, signaling her that everything she wanted was inside. "Well, he promised that this would be the last time he'll say anything about you, and I do believe that he can keep his word, but I don't know what she'll do with the information that she has."

"Do they know…?" She asked, pointing her chin at him.

"No, they don't." He shook his head. "They thought it was private and thought no one would be there at that hour."

Annabeth nodded, satisfied with his report. He fist bumped the air mentally, he didn't let her down this time. She continued to stare at him, knowing that he had more to spill than just this little juicy gossip about her friends that she was spying on covertly to keep herself and everything she had secure.

"And that CPO you asked me to check on, he's nothing." Luke got the meaning behind her stare and answered the unasked question. "Harmless son of a bitch. Just be careful of what you're saying and where, he isn't associated with anything. Not even a fucking cult."

"Good." She nodded, patting his shoulder. "You did well, brother." She laughed with him as he nodded in agreement. "Anything else I must know?" She asked, prying everything out of him before letting him go on to another mission.

"Everything's under control and functioning well," he thought for a moment and said, then added, "my Lord." Getting a grin from his boss, making him exhale a breath that he didn't know he was holding.

Annabeth nodded, obviously relieved by the good news brought to her by her second-in-command. One last nod and an eye flickering to the door, he knew that he was dismissed and it should be his cue to leave, so he stood up and walked himself out like instructed.

"G'night." He heard a faint sound coming from his Lord as he close the door, a big fat grin split his face. This was a sign that he was now in her good books, she was very satisfied with everything.

It was one successful night for both of them.

¢.¢

Recording of Piper and Jason.

"You said to wait until we'd see her again, and we're going to, so can you just tell me?"

"But we didn't see her. What exactly did she tell you before you left?"

"She just said that I'm supposed to forget about her and never mention her to anyone. She told me to never look for her and to never do anything associated to her."

"I think she's right. You should listen to her Piper," there was a pause, "she could foresee a lot of things that you couldn't."

"But I want to know just a little bit more."

There was a sigh, in which Annabeth could only assume to be coming from Jason.

"I know, baby, I know you want to help your friend, especially when she is someone that you look up to, but you can't."

"Why?"

"Not only because you won't understand, but she's right, you wouldn't want to understand her world."

"Do you? You sound like you do."

"I used to, but not anymore."

"How?"

"Swear on your life that you will never ever mention or even think about what I will tell you in the future."

"I swear on my life."

"I do expect you to keep your words."

"I won't let you down. I will keep them."

A pause that was longer than before. Annabeth could hear Luke shuffling closer to them from the bush that he was hiding in, the sound of the leaves could be heard loud and clear from the recording. The noise suddenly came to a halt as Jason started to speak again.

"Do you know how old Annabeth was when she got captured and imprisoned?"

"Just eighteen, like me."

"Not exactly, but you're on the right track. She was taken to prison on her birthday at her celebration with friends."

"How? Why?"

"No one knows. She's scapegoated, that's all I know."

"So she's innocent."

There were no verbal reply, because Jason replied with a nod.

"Then why can't she ask for another trial?"

Piper's naive thought made Annabeth chuckle. _Don't you think I've tried, chick?_ She thought bitterly to herself, thinking back to her first few years.

"That's the past, Pipes, it's not what you need to know to quench your thirst."

"But I want to."

"You don't need to know that much, it won't effect our lives, we have to be selfish in situations like this. We can never help people like Annabeth, all we can do is be her friend and cooperate with her, that's the best support we can offer."

Annabeth wanted to hug Jason for this deflection, because it was all she needed and she knew Jason could understand her all along.

"What do I need to know then?"

"You need to know about my relationship with her. There's a deep bond between her and I, something that no one else can understand, but I want you to be acquainted with it."

"So I won't suspect you of cheating?"

"No, it's because you won't accuse me of not helping."

Annabeth could imagine the smile on his face that was laughing at Piper's naiveness.

"I've told you that we went to the same school right?" The pause indicated a response from Piper, which preferably was a nod. "One summer when we finished high school, Luke got into jail and Annabeth had her narrow escape."

She heard a gasp from Piper, but she remembered the time clearly.

"We were seventeen." Jason continued. "Annabeth and I were not as close as we used to be, because ever since we got into high school, she had been closer to Luke than me."

"Why? Are they dating?"

"They share the same value and believe the same."

"Do you not agree with them?"

"Not completely, but I do understand them, that's why I'm still friend with them."

"Were they deviant back then?"

"Yes, and I was the goody-two-shoes. They were just like you, the only difference was that they were bolder than you. They were the school's biggest pranksters, but Luke was always the one who got in to trouble."

"How?"

"Annabeth had always been the criminal mastermind. She has good grades and appeared to be the good student in front of everyone, however, the plans were all conjured by her but carried out by others. Luke was one of them. If Luke had better grades, he would get in so much less trouble."

"Really?"

"Really. Annabeth was so good in school, she was perfect at everything."

"But she never dated anyone?"

"Not exactly. People thought she was with Luke, so no one dared to bother them. Though some tried to ask her out, but she rejected them."

"Was Luke popular?"

"Nah."

The tone in Jason's voice suggested otherwise and Annabeth knew it well.

"I was more popular than him."

"But don't girls think bad boys are sexier than good boys?"

Annabeth could sense the teasing in Piper's question, she smiled, the teenager in her came out for that split second.

"Do you think I'm less cool?"

"Maybe."

"But I'm their friend. Many of our classmates would die for my position."

"Wouldn't they think that your status in school will make them look normal, usual and ordinary?"

"Apparently they didn't agree with you back then."

"So what did they do to get them into so much trouble?"

"Every crazy thing you can ever think of."

"Why weren't they expelled?"

"They were too good in other aspects, it was like blackmailing the school board."

"Wow."

"Yeah, I know right. Their some badass."

"Ditto."

Annabeth laughed silently to herself in the dark, hearing the awe in their voice, especially Piper's, she knew that she still had a reputation.

"So, in continuation to what I was saying before you dragged me off track."

A giggle came from Piper which was her reaction to Jason's accusation.

"As I was saying, that summer when we were seventeen, Luke was in jail and Annabeth had no one to go to, she was lonely."

"Were they together every other summer?"

"Basically. Annabeth spent most of her summer time with him the past few years of high school, I have no idea what they were doing together and I wasn't exactly interested in prying, so I just didn't bother. They would call me and hang out with me from time to time, but they were together the majority of time."

"What happened that summer then? The last summer that you two spent together."

"Luke was in jail and Annabeth was lonely, so she came to me, asked me if she could spend the summer with me, I accepted of course. So that year, she told me practically everything she and Luke had done over the course of our high school life. I couldn't say I wasn't astonished, because it was beyond astounding."

"What did they do?"

"They're the anecdotes that I'm not allowed to share."

The apologetic and dejected sound in his voice almost made Annabeth wanting to give him her consent, but she knew she couldn't. At the same time, she was glad that Jason was trustworthy, she almost felt bad about eavesdropping and spying.

"But I can tell you that ever since that summer, I know that what I have with Annabeth is completely different than what I thought I had with her."

"Did you liked her?"

"Not romantically, but I've always loved her like my other sister."

"Then what changed?"

"The path that we were taking was towards two opposite direction. In spite the support we had for each other, I realized that we couldn't be friends like normal people do. I was faced with two decisions, it was like a crossroad. One end was me accepting who she was and the other was me rejecting her."

"So you chose the previous choice."

"Yes. I chose to tolerate her every flaw and to accept her as who she was, because I value our friendship more than anything. She knew me well, so she did her best to separate me with everything she was involved in. I was like this only clean and lawful place that she had in this universe, because her world was very different."

"How can you understand her?"

"It took me my whole high school years and even my college times, but that summer helped a lot, it enlightened me."

"I want to understand her too."

"It's worthless, Piper, there's no need to do so."

"Why?"

"Because we are her licit state of mind and she needed it, she didn't want us to be involved because she cared about us. Even if she might not admit or show it, but she cared."

"Can we see her again?"

"I don't know, Piper, I don't know."

With a deep, thoughtful sigh coming from Jason, the recording was cut to an end.

* * *

 **I really don't have much to say apart from reminding you to stay tuned to my profile page on updates of my status.**

 **I am so sorry for not updating in so long, and I've apologized in the profile already. I know I'm a horrible writer on this website, and I've got no** **excuse for it, but on the other hand, I really don't want to give up writing, because I thoroughly enjoyed it - just writing what I want to write secretly (as in, no one knows that I write).**

 **Antisocial Idiot (Guest): Lol, just how I liked you and your comments immediately after reading 'em. Thank you! Really! I laughed at the last part especially, because, have you ever considered something called 'time zone'? Cuz, for your information, I'm a person who values their precious sleeping time than anyone else on Earth, I wouldn't be up in an ungodly hour just to update, trust me, that wouldn't be me. I'm more interested in why are you up reading my story (not that I don't appreciate it) in that ungodly hour? I like your comment ;) Thanks for the support and the review, and I hope you enjoyed this chapter just as much, if you're still following it.**


	8. VIII

**I hope this chapter clears some stuff out.**

* * *

Annabeth hadn't been bothered since the premium. She didn't bother Percy, because she always get off on torturing people and seeing the suffer, she knew that Percy would be miserable and assumed that she chose Jason for him. She wasn't bothered by Luke, which meant everything was going according to plan; she was more than glad to assume that. Because with the peace given by the two, she was able to focus the other two things in hand: where to live and the gift from Jackson.

There was a limited stay in the half-way house, and even as the criminal mastermind, Annabeth couldn't alter the rules and have the room for herself her whole life. She wouldn't want the old room either. So she had no idea where she should go.

She was the head behind all drug trafficking, yet she was struggling to pay rent and find a suitable place for herself. It wasn't something ordinary. As a criminal mastermind, she must be rich and filthily wealthy, but she was none above. In fact, she was quite the opposite. She had tons spread amongst in her many bank accounts, but it would be unwise of her to use them like a rich prat and remaining poor would be a strategy to avoid getting on the radar of the enemy once again.

The gift from Percy was that gin bottle. She had kept it. Hiding it from public eyes and only taking it out for examination late at night when she was by herself. It wouldn't do any harm if she didn't stir anything up, that was when she knew she was still in control and in power.

¢.¢

It was a year later after her encounter with Percy outside of prison.

Half way through the year, she got kicked out of the half-way house. Annabeth had done her best to stretch the limit, but there was another guy coming from a different prison that needed her room, so she was forced to move.

With Luke's help, she found a small apartment downtown New York City. It was expensive as fuck, but she had no other choice but to accept it. She was struggling to pay the rent with the legit money that she earned from working part time, and the rest was been replaced with the money from the organization that she was in power of.

"There is a Mr Percy Jackson requests to see you, can I send him up?" Her doorman said through the intercom.

It had been a whole, full year since the movie premium. As Annabeth heard from Luke, it was a huge success and Percy had gotten himself a mansion in LA. So apart from the one he had in New York, he now owned another one in the city center of Los Angeles.

He must be very rich now, but no matter how rich he was, it would have nothing to do with her. Again, she underestimated the Hollywood star.

"Does the guard never addresses you by your name or anything?" Was the first thing he said to her when she opened the door for him.

"Stalker." She glared at him but let him in nonetheless.

"There's something that's been bothering me since exactly a year ago." He said, inviting himself to take a seat on the stool in the kitchen, poured himself a glass of water as if he was the owner of the house. Annabeth took in all the actions with an amused expression but did nothing to offer her help as the host, after all, he was here unannounced and uninvited.

"And what may that be?" She sat down opposite of him, resting her chin on her hand.

"Who did you choose for me?" He asked the question slowly, putting down the glass of water in his hand in an even slower motion.

"You just made that choice, as a matter of fact." She replied lazily. "The deadline that I said a year ago was a lie, it was a false alarm. That's just for me to test you. You know that I can be very insecure at times."

"I don't understand."

"I spied on you." She confessed, the courage suddenly slipped out of her making her avoid making eye contact with him.

"You what?" His eyes held so much mixed emotions that Annabeth couldn't just pick one out easily, but the look of betrayal was still the strongest.

"I'm sorry Percy, I had to do that, because nothing you do can prove to me that you are trustworthy." She explained, half expecting him to walk out on her and half hoping that he would understand.

"Now I'm not sure if I can trust you." He confessed finally, after a very long silence that passed between the two.

"I don't need you to trust me, Percy, because not many people do. At least not fully." She added, an attempt to soothe herself more than to him. "A lot of your actions were under surveillance and I know every one of your moves. I'm sorry to do that, but I just want to know more about your social circle and what do you tell them."

"So you know everything."

"I know you went to Jason and Piper's not once but twice. I know you told them about me, though you've got nothing to spill, at least nothing that they don't already know, but you still told them about the possibility of being cut off from them. I can understand your rationale, but I cannot and will not tolerate your actions if you do them again after today."

"What do you mean?"

"You chose me, Percy, because you came to me today."

"What can you do if I don't come to you?"

"Nothing. I said I'm not forcing you to make a choice. I won't do anything to you, but I will have more to do to get trouble away from you."

"Do you even know that you're paying your rent to me and the reason why your rent suddenly got deducted is not because of some bullshit that my spokesperson told you, it's because I bought this house." Percy was in a foul mood today, very different than the mood he was in a year ago on top of the Empire State Building.

Annabeth was speechless for a second. It was the second major time that Percy had had that effect on her.

"Yes, I bought this house because you're struggling. I wasn't mad that you spied on me because I did the same to you. I stalked you, only wanting to know that you're doing fine."

"Thanks, Percy. Really." She whispered, feeling uncomfortable thanking another person, because she had never done that nor had she needed to.

"You're welcome, Annabeth." He smiled. "So, we're even in that part."

"Yes, we are." She sighed. Contemplating inwardly whether she should tell him now or not.

"Annabeth, I want you and I chose you over Jason. That's one of the reason why I came today." He startled her, but this was also what she wished to happen.

"Will you keep your mouth shut about me?"

"Yes, but under one condition." He held out a hand. Annabeth raised an eyebrow, curious of the condition. "You're to come with me to my house to watch the movie with me."

"You still haven't watched it?"

"No." He shook his head. "When I said I want to watch it with you, I meant it."

Annabeth shook her head in amusement. "Then maybe I should tell you everything after the movie."

"Spare me the suspense, Chase." Percy rolled his eyes.

"Then let's go to your place." She said, standing up swiftly.

He wasn't even sure if that was for sparing him the suspense or she was only going for the movie.

"If you choose Jason," Annabeth made herself at home, talking to him while waiting for him to find the movie, she knew he was listening. "You will be cut off from me, and it's that simple. But, you chose me, so you're getting yourself into some pretty complicated awful shit."

"Well, I don't have a choice now don't I?" He eyed her pointedly and she shrugged.

"You kind of don't."

"So what am I supposed to know?"

"This movie actually saved me from tracking you down."

"What's this supposed to mean?"

"If you didn't come to find me, I have to go and find you. Actually, no, that might not be the case."

"What are you talking about?" He had no idea if she was talking to him or to herself.

"So, do you know what you handed me that day in prison?" He looked lost, unable to remember what she was referring to, because she was jumping too fast for his brain to function. "The bottle of alcohol."

"Oh, yes, that glass bottle that looked like gin?"

"Yes."

"I've got no idea, I thought it was some inherited property."

"Oh no, stop evaluating my parents with normal ones. Just don't consider them as human."

"Okay." He blinked at this protest. "Can we start?"

"No." She stopped him. "Not yet." To justify her rough action previously, she said it in a softer tone.

"Okay…"

"Hear me out." Annabeth took the remote from his hand and tugged on her arm to make him look at her. "I was born in a- mob family- I know it's inaccurate, but that will just help you understand it better. My mother is the drug lord, the biggest drug dealing organization in the United States. My father is the most wanted serial killer. What they have in common was the passion towards their love of drugs and chemicals. Those people that they killed were just experiments, as they put it."

Percy gave her a look, something that she couldn't put her hand on to at that moment, but she later guessed it was a look of disgust.

"Yes, I know they're cruel." She rolled her eyes, agreeing to the concept herself. "I was only conceived because they wanted to avoid being check on regularly. If they have a kid, the police will be easier on them because at least they are a family, so they may be less cool to human life. But the police were just too naive. My existence changed nothing."

"Why are you telling me this?"

"Because this is what you're getting into, a highly illegal and dangerous organization."

"And who's the head?"

"Me."

"You?" Percy's eyes were wide. He couldn't remember a time he was more surprised than he was right now. "But, you're what? Twenty-nine now?"

"Problem? You're the same age and you have more than enough money for a life time."

"That's not my point."

"Yeah, yeah, yeah. I know what bullshit you're going to talk about, I don't want to hear it." She waved him off. "I'm telling you this because you are in big trouble, young man."

"What? When?"

"This is where you need me. So shut up and listen."

The television screen had already dimmed, but Percy paid no attention to it, he was more concerned to what seemed to be highly related to him.

"Your family and mine goes way back."

"How do you know?"

"I know everything, or else how're you expecting me to rule an organization that is dealing with everything that's illegal?"

"Touché."

Annabeth smirked. "Your brother, Triton, was not killed in an accident, he was murdered."

"By your father."

"Yes." She nodded. "Do you know why?"

"I can hardly connect the dots right now."

"He used to be my mother's biggest client. Well, maybe not the biggest, but rather significant."

"He did drugs?"

"You didn't know?"

"Of course not! If I did, do you think I can live my life this peacefully when a family member of mine is a drug trafficker?"

"Well, that's not the point, but you gave a good reason." She praised absentmindedly. "Wait, you never had a good relationship with your brother didn't you?"

"No, never. We were barely on speaking terms."

"No wonder." She muttered to herself.

"What?"

"You've been missing out on a lot."

"Why am I just informed?"

"Because I'm trying to save you from my parents."

"But they're dead aren't they?"

"Yes, they are, but they've set you up. You might lose everything."

"How can I know if your telling me the truth and not making everything up, because up until now, everything you're saying is bizarre and confusing."

"I know, and I'm trying to tell you everything, because no one, absolutely _no one_ has the information that I have right now."

"Why?"

"Because people are stupid!"

"Okay… Calm down please, your voice sounds a little scary when you raise it."

"Then shut the fuck up and stop gasping at everything I said." Her voice was slightly lowered, sounding much more normal.

"That's better." He muttered to himself, trying to settle his beating heart.

Annabeth took a deep breath and carried on with her story telling.

"Triton was not only my mother's regular client, he also indebted the most. He had way too much on his tab that we stopped selling him stuff until he pays us back. But, instead of paying back, he blackmailed my mother's people."

"How?"

"He knew the critical information about the organization. No one knows how he got them, but he just did, and he was threatening to spill it."

"So your father murdered him?"

"Yes and no."

"Huh?" Percy cocked his head sideways.

"Yes, he was murdered, but no, it wasn't by my father only." She reached into her pocket and took out the bottle that he handed her in prison about four years ago. "Looks familiar to you?" She held it out for him to take a better look.

He nodded.

"I told you that I don't know what's this when you asked right?" He nodded again. "I lied." She confessed.

"So you knew it all along?"

"Yes."

"Why didn't you tell me?"

"Because that's my parents' scheme."

"This gin?"

"It's not gin." She handed him the bottle, cautiously and hesitantly, when he was about to take it from her, she retracted her hand and changed her mind. Screwing open the cap, she placed it under his nose. "Just smell it, it's strong so don't inhale deeply."

"Hey, this actually smells good." He was about to sniff for a second time, but she quickly snapped it away.

"Don't you dare." She sounded panicky. "Shit, that was way too risky." She scolded herself immediately. "It may look like gin for amateurs, but it's far from it. The color, the density, the weight, the smell, the sound, everything is telling you that it's anything but gin."

"How can you tell?"

"Cause I live in a chemistry lab. I'm their experiment for all kinds of drugs before they used it on other innocent human beings. I tasted every single chemical they developed and tried every single drug you can name out there, illegal or not. This is how my vocal cords are damaged and this is why I am immune to poison."

"How cruel."

"I told you to never think of my parents normally. I'm nothing more than an experimental material for them. It's also the reason why I know that much about all this kind of shit. I am just too professional with this."

Percy was in awe with her knowledge, but again, he shuddered at the thought of being poisoned since birth, especially by one's own parents.

"Do you know what this poison is called?" She made sure the cap was screwed back tightly and stored away safely in her pocket. He shook his head. "What's your favorite pseudonym?"

"Riptide." His eyes widened as he said the name. "How'd you know?"

"I've told you I know everything." She explained dully. "When did they give this to you?"

"On your birthday."

"When did they die?"

Percy thought for a moment and realized that it wasn't making sense.

"Before my birthday." Annabeth answered for him, assuring him that what he was thinking wasn't wrong. "The people that went to your house wasn't my parents. In fact, it was only one person that actually went in. It was Luke who had gone in and put this in your safe."

"But I saw them."

"You saw a recorded tape."

"Then why were you so interested when I told you that I knew your parents personally when I first get to talk to you privately?"

"Because I want to know how much do you know?"

"So you know me the first time I went?"

"Yes. You were a hot topic in my family before my parents died."

"How so?"

"They're plotting on you."

"Why?"

"To revenge Triton. Remember he tried to sell out my mom's organization?" He nodded. "Even though he was murdered, his debts were their loss and they wanted to drag someone else down in their family, and you couldn't be a better choice."

"Why are you telling me all this?"

"Because I'm trying to help you."

"Why?"

"I can't tell you just yet."

That was another lie, but she had to lie, because no matter who he was, even if he was her husband and was a critical member of her gang, he still would't know. Her reason why she was willing to help him was mainly because she needed a reputation in the society so that no one would mistaken her with her family and therefore, she could get away with all the censor from the police and other authorities, all in order to protect the organization she inherited from her parents.

"What was in the bottle then?" He directed the conversation back on to track.

"Riptide."

"What is that?"

"A chemical. Very lethal and deadly."

"How do you know all this shit?"

"I eavesdrop and I observe. My parents' plots were all knowledgable by me and I know their recipe."

"But didn't they burn down their lab?"

"Yes, but that was well covered and no one could do say otherwise, people can't relate that lab with the chemical I have in my hand, because this is the most important one."

"What about the others?"

"They are all ordinary, something that you can easily find in any science lab. It's nothing special. Only this potion, Riptide. Their ultimate weapon."

"Triton was killed by this?"

"Precisely, smartass." She smirked, taking out the bottle, shaking it. Percy's face morphed from seriousness to fear, the smirk on her face turned darker and more evil.

"Annabeth stop please." He begged.

"Scared?"

"Yes." He admitted, never knowing that he would be intimidated by this woman in front of him. "Please?" He asked again and she stopped, taking pity on him.

"This drug is used to kill not only your brother, but also themselves." She continued to explain the connection. "There is a substance in this poison that will react with shattered glass. Have you ever been to the crime scene of your brother's death bed?" He shook his head, giving her a weird look. "Of course not."

"You were there."

"Duh, but no one knew."

"You're creeping me out."

"I like doing so." She clicked her tongue. "This is poured in to a glass, because it has the smell of alcohol, so he drank it without second thought. At the very bottom of the glass, the word 'Riptide' is printed in sapphire, very beautifully engraved."

"What the fuck?"

"If I was the police, I would definitely come to you, but apparently they were slow and dumb." She rolled her eyes.

"They tried to scapegoat me?"

Annabeth rolled her eyes again. "I've been trying to tell you that ever since." He mouthed an 'oh', but nothing else came out. "This same drug is used when my parents killed themselves. And now because of your father, the case is still not settled, and sooner or later, it will be pointed at you. I'm fascinated that no one has connect the two names together."

Percy was left speechless, he never knew he was in great potential danger until this woman from prison came to him. As much as he didn't want to believe her, he thought it was too good to be made up by her.

"What am I supposed to do?"

"Nothing."

"Nothing?" He eyed her bewilderingly. "My life is in potential danger and you're telling me to do nothing about it?"

"You've been living like this for the past fifteen years and you're still that famous Hollywood star whom everyone looks up to and every girl admires, it was every female's dream to be asked to watch a movie with you."

Percy pressed play numbly as the movie started to play. He was still stiffly seated on the couch, his eyes fixed on the screen but were out of focus. He didn't even realize that it wasn't the movie that he made, he had accidentally pressed the next button which skipped the movie he had chosen.

¢.¢

"How'd it go?" Luke met up with Annabeth very early in the morning upon her request last night. "How's he?" He asked, knowing that she had told him what he needed to know. Although he himself had no idea how Percy was associated to everything, but he knew whatever that link was, it wouldn't be easy for the star to adjust and accept.

"Scared as fuck. It was almost hilarious." Annabeth chuckled.

"So what's next?"

"I'm staying with him for a while." She exhaled deeply, gazing at the newly lit cigar in her hand. It wasn't the kind that she preferred normally, but this thick stick would do right now. She liked those cheap, thin and roughly made cigaret better than the expensive stick that was fat and short. It reminded her of Churchill for some reason, she only needed a glass of brandy to be just like Winston.

"In his place?"

"Depends."

Annabeth was reminded of the night that she had spent in his penthouse. He was knocked out cold next to her as she watched the comedy 'American Pie'. The teenage part of her still not completely gone.

When the movie was over, she reached to run a hand through his uncombed messy dark hair. They were soft and scented, it was like heaven. Combing through his hair was no different than going through hers, but she just liked the feeling of the soft material in her hand.

Whilst enjoying the sound asleep Percy next to her with his hair in her hands, she hadn't stopped thinking about her next step. After all, she had practically told him everything, and it would take him time to register all the information. There wasn't much left about her that he didn't know, apart from what she was actually doing.

Percy stirred under her touch, he groaned, that made Annabeth retract her hand suddenly. She didn't realize that she was still playing with his hair until he woke up and caught her hand in action.

"Annabeth?" He said in a sleepy voice.

"Ya?" She pretended not to notice that she was caught, playing it off casually.

"What are you doing?"

"What do you think I'm doing?" She asked to stall time, because she had no idea herself.

"I don't know." He pulled her hand down to his lips and planted a kiss on her knuckles.

"What are _you_ doing?" She asked softly, not knowing that he was affecting her in a way that she felt foreign to.

"I don't know." Replying with the same phrase, he tugged on her hand and pulled her close to him. "Stay with me?"

"Are you even awake?"

"What do you think?" He gave her a smirk that she find oddly adorable.

"Maybe not. I think you should go to your room and sleep everything off. You might find yourself dreaming the whole thing." She smiled, saying this as gently as she could with her scratchy voice.

"Come with me." He asked.

Annabeth was stunned by the request, but she didn't feel like doing so. Though she couldn't deny the fact that she wanted to follow him. "Next time." Was what she said before she stood up and reached for the door. Ignoring his calls and inquiries, she shut the door in his face and left.


	9. IX

**Please tell me if I'm confusing you.**

* * *

Life with a mob wasn't exactly the happiest nor the easiest. It had been another year since Annabeth returned to his life. This time, as a mob.

"What do you know about me, Percy?" She had questioned him once early on when she decided to stick around him for awhile in case he went around and spilled what he believed was a dream to everyone and even to the press per se.

Percy tilted his head and tried to think, but nothing came up.

"Did you drug me?" He asked her suspiciously, not knowing how could he possibly know nothing significant about her, especially after all these days that she had spent with him and all the stuff she had told him.

"No." She shook her head and bit back the 'not yet' that she was about to say.

"Then how come I didn't know much about you, apart from the stuff I gained from the internet?"

"Because I haven't told you anything." She finally revealed the truth, as if it was something big.

Percy was speechless, he thought back to all the conversations they had, and it was true, she didn't spill a single thing about herself.

"So…" He tried to keep up with the topic, but didn't know where to carry on.

"What?"

"Are you going to tell me about yourself?"

"Maybe, maybe not. You know nothing about me and I find that making me feel very secure."

"Then what's the point of the question?"

"Just to make sure you don't know shit and also to get your hopes up."

"Okay…" They were silent for a while. "Annabeth," he called suddenly, "I still don't get it."

"Which part?" She chuckled, knowing that he wouldn't be getting anything given the information that she had fed him some time ago, it was far from enough for him to understand his situation.

"Why did you give me a choice?"

"What do you mean?" She asked, knowing what he was referring to but also didn't want to answer the question straight away.

"If I chose Jason, then I'd be cut off from you, didn't that made your job easier? Why did you make me choose you over him?"

"I didn't make you choose me." She defended herself, although it was needless. He cocked his head sideways, trying to understand her words. "Either choice result in the same thing to me fundamentally: I still have to shield you from my parents. The only differences were who you want to be with longer and what kind information do you want to gain. If it's Jason, then you'd never see me. If it's me, then you might get a chance to see him, even if what you tell him has to be limited."

"So why didn't you make me choose him, that would've make your life easier since you don't have to explain the complicated shit to this idiot and dragging him into a mob life." He sounded accusing, and with the narrowed eyes that Annabeth was giving him, he thought he had gotten into trouble, but the answer just surprised him.

"Because I'm a selfish bastard."

Percy raised a humorous eye brow at the choice of word to describe herself, she seemed to understood the question in his eyes.

"Bitch's my middle name dumbass."

"Sounds like a common fact." He nodded, even though he was still confused, but this being in front of him was never clear in everything she did or say.

"You know your job as a Hollywood guy is not at all affected by living with a mob leader right?"

"Yes, but…"

"It's hard, I know, but you're the victim. As long as I'm not seen with you, and the stupid police hasn't connected the dots yet, you're safe from mobs. You're not part of us, just remember that."

"What do I have to do?"

"Be Percy Jackson and not Riptide." She smirked at the early pseudonym he had used when he first started his career. "Don't let anyone suspect that you might have the slightest connection with a mob, because even if you're the victim, it's only me that know."

Percy nodded, feeling pressured when he thought of the interview that he was supposed to attend the next day, he suddenly felt stressed out.

"Oh and one more thing." The smirk on her face had not disappear, in fact, it had gone wider. "I invited myself to sleep with you, on your bed, tonight."

"You what?" He choked, suddenly not stressed, he was amused by the phrase and yet shocked. "Why?"

"Security matters."

"I thought you're feeling secure when I know very little about you, why do you want such an intimate relationship?" He teased, knowing what she meant by 'security'.

"Change of mind." She shrugged, playing along. "I like emotional and physical intimacy with the people that I trust."

"You never failed to amaze me, Chase." He shook his head, thoroughly entertained by the request and by her witty comebacks. Leaning down, he pecked her lips lightly, picked up his jacket and head to the door.

Despite the playful conversation between the two, there was a subtle meaning to it, especially that last part from Annabeth, it was pun. She, on the one hand, wanted to tell him about her feelings for him; on the other hand, it was a warning to him to not spill anything and let her down.

"Have fun with whatever you're doing." Annabeth's cheerful voice came from the living room that he left her in.

Percy rolled his eyes, "will do." He shouted back a respond. He had pondered whether to reply but decided to do so because it was rare to see her in a positive mood.

¢.¢

Living with another human meant tolerance for each other and understanding for one another. Annabeth had found many things that Percy did funny and he had find a lot of things she did interesting or even more, risky and dangerous.

There would be days that he had to head out early for an interview or because of something that his manager, Nico, called him in for. He had no idea what Annabeth would be doing, and he didn't really dared to ask. Until one night, he blurted out when he saw her at home before he was and was in bed already.

"Hey, baby." He approached her, sitting down on the edge of the bed by her side. Putting a comforting hand on her shoulder, squeezing it gently while rubbing it. "What's wrong?"

She wasn't crying, but she certainly wasn't in a good mood. The emotion radiating off her was negative and he didn't like it, it was even worse than the ones she used to have. Despite seemed to have calmed down a little, she was still shaking her head refusing to speak.

"Tell me, Annabeth, please." He begged, getting worried with each shake of head that she did. "Please, baby, you're worrying me."

"I know." She mouthed, because it was barely a whisper, but that was all she had said.

"Say something, Annabeth, anything." He pleaded when she was responsive no more.

Annabeth shrugged off his hand and got up from the bed, a sigh heaved out from her. He remained on his spot, but his eyes never left her figure. She glanced back at the bed making him do the same. Seeing nothing, he turned back, realized that she was no longer looking in his direction. Confused, he casted his eyes back on her. Then, when his eyes roamed her body, not sure what he was looking for, he saw something red on a white piece of cloth. The air grew tense around them, she seemed to have realized that he had noticed, because her eyes had looked down to that spot too.

"What?" He asked, unable to bear the silence anymore, though he tried to keep his irritation out of the inquiry, it was still heard.

She raised an eyebrow at him, as if accusing him for the question and even for his presence. Then she narrowed her eyes at him, deliberately, she walked out of the room and went into the living room, not before poking her head into the kitchen to make sure that the doors were shut.

Percy followed, of course. Annabeth took a seat on the couch, turned on the TV and then turned up the volume. Patting the empty space next to her, she motioned Percy to sit down next to her. He did and waited for her to start talking, but instead, she reached to her waistband and pulled out a piece of crumbled paper, handing it to him.

It was a picture of him and someone that he couldn't make out just from the blurred image. His face, however, was crystal clear and facing the camera. He scrunched up his eyebrows, trying to recall paparazzi's presence during his day today. Shaking his head, he handed this picture back to her who had returned with a small pot with a small bit of water inside.

Without a word, she took out a cheap pack of cigarets and lit one. After taking a long sip, she placed a corner of the paper to the glowing end. The image quickly caught fire and started to burn in her hand, she held it while staring at it with an emotion that could scare Percy half to death if he hadn't spent years with her. As the page was burning to the tip that she was holding on to, she slowly placed it into the pot of water that she brought back from the kitchen.

"Who took that?" He pressed, not liking the silent treatment anymore, deciding to break it off.

"Me." She took no time to think. Sparing no time for him to react, she reached in to her bra and took out a very small glass filled with what seemed like gin, but he was sure was not.

"Riptide?" He asked, taking a wild guess.

She nodded without saying anything.

"I don't follow." He couldn't put the pieces together. The image she showed him and burnt, then this deadly ultimate weapon that she was in possession of.

"I made this." She said, examining the liquid.

He wasn't sure what to feel anymore, because sitting in a lonesome empty living room with a mob leader who was holding a chemical that had never been known to anyone, but had done enough damage to cause a lifelong mystery murder case.

"W-Why are you telling me this?" He didn't know what was right to ask, it was even too risky for him to ask this question.

"I don't know." She shrugged, but her eyes were telling him something else.

All she had done in the past were to threaten him, both emotionally and physically. She had forced him to choose her because she liked him and wanted him for herself, it was selfish, but it was the only way she could keep him close. She had showed him the other side of her, the more humane side of her just to make sure that his heart belonged to her. She had told him a lot afterwards, because she knew he couldn't betray anyone, it was his fatal flaw, so she took advantage of it. Then when she showed him the picture and the drug, it was a less subtle threat. Everything that she had done to him was subtly taking control over him and making sure that he would be a danger.

As stupid as he was, he fell into all the trap without knowing it. When he asked if she had drugged him, his subconscious told him that the woman in front of him had the potential to do so as a punishment. When the pictures was shown to him, it was a message to him that she was able to blackmail him if he didn't behave. When she showed him the drug, it was to reinforce the point that she could even kill him silently and get away with it. There was only one thing that made him stop believing the worse: the sentimental part of her. The part that told him that she loved him and would allow herself to be seen with him in public as long as she could cover her eyes. That was, what he believed, the only mortal part in her.

He knew what she was doing. All the moves to turn up the TV and not answering his question directly when asked for a second time. But he just couldn't fully grasp it, it was all too new to him.

There he thought the eeriness would be gone after the big revelation, but there were more to come. It was only a matter of time. She wouldn't be Annabeth if there was no eeriness.

"What else are you going to threaten me with?" He wondered out loud, forgetting that she was still there for a second, until he was faced with her amused face. "Shit. I just said that out loud didn't I?"

Annabeth said nothing but nodded, still with that amusing glint in her eyes. He could only be happy that she found him entertaining.

"Do you remember who that guy was? The guy in the picture that I showed you?" She asked him, her expression suddenly darkened. He shook his head. "Think." She commanded before he could suck in a breath. "I took it before you got in to the car to come back." She reminded him.

"Nico?" He took a wild guess.

"No." Annabeth shook her head.

"So you knew?" He asked, shocked by the respond from her, but she remained her previous facial expression and kept staring at him, not giving him anything. "Does he has anything to do with me?"

"You tell me." She said emotionlessly, very well guarded.

"You make a very good detective, Chase." He chuckled nervously, but there was no reaction from her whatsoever. "Luke?"

Annabeth raised an eyebrow at him, not at all entertained by his random guess. "You wish." She scoffed, finally giving him a rest.

"Jason?"

"Stop guessing and just think. It wasn't that long ago." She would've called him something along the lines of 'asshole', but stifled it to maintain her seriousness.

"Okay. Sorry Boss." He saluted, but cringed when he saw the glare she shot him. Annabeth was surprised to find him daring to say such thing. "Um…" He tried to think back to who he talked to before coming back. He darted his eyes to the pot that now contained litter of black shreds of burnt paper soaked in water, wanting to see the picture again to remind himself.

"Congratulations Percy Jackson." She said after a while of silence. "You've just failed your first training." Getting up, she moved the pot back to the kitchen and cleaned it up. Returning, she saw him taking the small glass bottle in his hand and taking a quick examination at it. "Drink it." She said, sitting down to her original spot.

He looked up, all color drained from his face. She would laugh at his pale-white face, but it was Percy, so she didn't have the heart to do so.

"What?" He whispered, his eyes pleading her, tears were almost spilling out.

"I said drink it." She had to make her sentences short in order to not burst out laughing.

"This?" He held up the glass in his hand. Annabeth nodded, trying her best to maintain her serious face. "What? Why?"

"Just do what I said." She could barely hold it any longer.

Unscrewing the cap cautiously and slowly, he placed the glass to his mouth, but before he could tip it into his mouth under her intense death glare, her hand went up to it and snatched it away from him without spilling any of the fluid out.

While downing it herself, she was shaking with fits of hysterical laughters. He was staring at her with a shocked face.

"You- But- Isn't this?" He stuttered, couldn't even form words.

"It's gin you idiot." She said between her fits of laughters. He couldn't even register this small piece of information as he felt adrenaline flowing away from his body. "Congratulations, you've just failed your second test." Holding out the now empty bottle, she clinked it with the glass table. "Cheers."

"What. The. Fuck!" He shouted, feeling like a fool.

"Now, calm down." She finished laughing, throwing herself at him as he was still in the state of shock. Pulling his face close to her, she kissed him passionately on the lips. "Taste it? It's alcohol, just gin." She whispered to him reassuringly, realizing that she may have scared him to death tonight. She might've crossed the line and she'd have to make it up to him some way.

"Fuck." He panted. "Shit, you scared me to death, Annabeth." He pulled her closer to him, letting his hand fall to her waist and another lost in her hair. "Gods, I hate this."

"This is me, welcome to my world, Percy Jackson." She announced slowly and seductively.

"Tell me what the fuck happened?" He whispered to her, staring into her eyes, searching for any uncertainty and unfaithfulness, but he saw none.

"I didn't lie, it was Riptide." His eyes widened, gaping, he was about to say something, but she placed a finger on his lips lightly, shushing him effectively. "But," she added quickly, to spare him further pain, "it's mixed with the antidote." He visibly relaxed, his shoulders no longer tensed and his breath seemed to be slower. "I found the antidote today, making Riptide no longer the incurable poison. The neutral mixture has a gin taste aftertaste, so I added a coloring to make it look like gin. I asked you to drink it to test you for your qualification to join my mob community, but after today, I think it's better to let you live your life in peace."

"No more mob?"

"Not for you."

"What does that mean?"

"You just live your life and stop worrying about me. I will be deflecting every other thing for you."

"What kind of thing?"

"Things that I brought to your life."

"What? Are you saying that there will be mobs going after me to take my life because of you?"

"No, but because of the case of your brother."

"I don't get it, wasn't this over."

"Someone dug it up apparently."

"Who?"

"You don't need to know."

"Why?"

"Because you just have to be a celebrity and a Hollywood heartthrob, you'll have no associations to the mob whatsoever, it's all me."

"Perks of having a mafia girlfriend?"

"Yes, perks of having a mafia girlfriend."

She got off him and head off to the bedroom.

"Wait," he called, getting up to follow her. "Who was it in the photo that you took?"

"Nico."

Before he could react, she shoved him into the bathroom and locked the door behind her.

¢.¢

Plopping herself up on to the counter, she stared back at him as if he was the one that had forced into this locked room.

"What now?" He asked, suddenly forgetting the reaction to the answer she'd given to him just a few seconds ago.

"I reckon you should take a shower now, to wash off all the stress from today's work."

Until that moment, he didm't notice how tired he really was, a hot shower sounded like just the thing he wanted and needed.

Without a second thought, he stripped out of his clothes and stepped into the hot shower, closing the curtain.

Annabeth sat on the counter, swinging her legs lost in her own train of thoughts. She reflected on everything that had happened, and there was only one thing that had went out of control. She didn't expect his reaction to the drink to be that severe, she thought it was nothing, but she had miscalculated and consequently, it showed of her inhumane and monstrous side. The part of her that enjoyed torturing other people.

"Ever wondered where I was all this times that you weren't at home, Percy?" She broke the silence in the bathroom in a gentle voice that was very unlike that cold-hearted woman that liked to see others in pain.

"Mm hm." The reply made her believe that she had interrupted his own thoughts, suddenly, guilt rushed through her. A feeling that she was foreign, yet slowly getting used to.

Always cautious, she decided to stay alerted this time too. Thinking of that as an excuse, she took off her clothes and opened the curtain, grinning at his shocked face and stepped into the hot water.

"You mind?" She whispered. The voice was small but she felt like it was just them in a bubble that had blocked out all the noises, even the running water. They were lost in each other's eyes as they moved closer to one another.

"No." He whispered back, not breaking the eye contact once.

His hand went to her waist and pulled her closer, her hands travelled up from his abdominal to the back of his neck and linking them together eventually. Letting her desire take control, she pulled his head down for his lips to meet hers. He let her do that willingly as he cupped her cheek with one hand and the other went to her lower back to support her as he bent her over.

"You okay?" She asked, breaking the kiss reluctantly but necessarily. He nodded, trying to return to the kiss.

"Percy." She knew they had to talk before they continue, but both of them were desperate.

"Yes?" He didn't stop his trail down her neck to her shoulder.

"Don't you want to know everything?" She bit back a moan that was escaping when she asked the question.

She felt him nodding. "I want you." He mumbled against her skin huskily, pushing her back and pressing her against the wall, sending a shiver down her spine as her back made contact with the cold-stone wall that reminded her of the temperature of her heart.

Letting her eyes fall shut, she presented herself to him, granting him total control and telling herself this was the compensation that he deserved.

Sex with him was nothing like fucking the prison guards, while she was only pleasuring them, she enjoyed the feeling of him being inside her. She loved every kiss he planted on her skin, every place he had touched and every second his body was connected to hers. It was completely different than all the sex she had had. It was warm and she just wanted to savor and enjoy the moment each time they did it.

This was an effect that no male had ever had on her, she was surprised herself that she could actually be attracted to someone, more over, someone like him would be in to her, would want her for her, despite everything she was telling him. She knew she was presenting a very different kind of relationship to him on the surface, but showing another kind. On the surface, they were forced to work together because she chose to safe this innocent man, but beneath every facade, she had fell for him. Her non-existent heart had been given to him the first time she lose herself in him and with him.

¢.¢

"What are you doing to me?" She muttered, not sure to whom in particular.

They had gone out of the long stress-relieving shower and was now cuddling in bed.

"Answer me honestly, Annabeth." Percy ignored her sigh and addressed to the serious problems. "I don't understand anything, so please be patient with me." He felt her nod against his chest, so he continued. "Before I ask a string of questions, I really want you to know that you've really scared me today. I've never been that scared in my whole life before." Upon hearing this confession, she pulled away a little to look up at him. Staring at his vulnerable face, the guilty feeling that she was slowly becoming to be familiar with made its way to her gut. It was a feeling that she would only experience when she was with Percy. She felt bad, really bad for letting her monstrous side to surface in front of her boyfriend, whom she actually committed to a lot. She wanted to apologize, but that wouldn't make up for what had already happened, so she just stared helplessly, trying to convey her feelings through her eyes. One look at her, he sighed. Burying his face in her hair, he said defeatedly. "I know, sorry won't change anything. I'm so lost now." He felt her head nod, deciding it was time to list out his questions.

"First and for most, I don't care about everything else, I want to know what happened to your arm?"

"That's a minor issue. Injuries always find their way to me, don't worry about it unless you find me in a hospital bed unconscious with my body ripped open." His eyes narrowed, thinking she was joking. "I'm serious, unless what you saw matched my description above, you're not to worry. It's an order." The bossy side of her returned, this was her, never wanted to be the priority on other's list, because she was not used to all the public attention, in this case, Percy's.

"Why did you take that picture? What's happening?" He didn't even give her time to rest or to take a breath as if he got that question loaded, which he did actually.

"I got the picture from the surveillance camera around the corner, duh, quite easy for me to do. As to what's happening? It's nothing. You're clearly not for dangerous mob life, so you're going to be involved to mobs the least possible."

"What are you trying to do to me today? Why are you hiding all this from me as if I'm a stupid ass idiot who doesn't have an IQ?"

"I'm contemplating to tell you everything about me and my life and maybe, you'd help me, but apparently you're quite opposed to all this. You're not stupid, but you just don't believe in evilness and deviances and I get it. The tests just helped me to get to know you better and to know your tolerance of me."

"How?"

"Long story." She answered, brushing it off and dismissing the question, daring him to ask a second time. Thankfully he stopped. Perhaps he really was scared of her now.

"Who dug up the case? What will happen?"

"Again, you don't have to worry, because honestly, from today, I don't want to frighten you more. I think you've know enough and I've told you enough."

"For now?" He added, determined to get to know everything that she refused to tell him today.

"Lastly, yes, I do want to know what you do when I was out every day."

"That's top secret. Highly classified. Though, I got this today."

She flip to face away from him so that her left side was facing the ceiling.

"Kiss my shoulder." She whispered, seconds later, she felt his warm lips hesitantly hovering above her.

"A sword." He kissed the tattoo that he had recognized on her shoulder blade.

"Riptide." She answered him.

"Yes, trident on a sword." He got on his elbow without taking his other hand off her. "That was my symbol when I first made my debut performance."

She nodded, turning to face him, accepting a kiss from him.

"Why?"

She said nothing, but answered him with a mysterious smile that he was yet to figure out the meaning.

* * *

 **Say something?**


	10. X

**Alex Focker: Riptide is Percy. Percy has no mafia form, he is just the plain ol' Hollywood actor that is somehow involved. It's just Percy's pseudonym that he used when he made his debut in public. I know which part confused you, but just remember that she meant it as, just stop using the name.**

 **Enjoy.**

* * *

The light of the kitchen downstairs was dimly lit. It was two in the morning, Percy should be asleep, but he couldn't, especially when he found out that Annabeth was nowhere in sight when he opened his eyes. No matter how different she was from all the people that he had ever encountered, it was hard for him to believe that she would be up at this ungodly hour in his kitchen with a dim candle light.

Silently, he started to make his way to the lighted room. Hesitantly, he stepped into sight. He could see her hunched over with something in front of her, but couldn't decide what. Moving closer, he didn't know what to do. He wanted to help, or at least know what she wanted, because he didn't like seeing her in this foul mood.

"Did I wake you?" A small, quiet yet scratchy, horas but audible voice came from the hunched over figure, startling him for some reason. She didn't even turn around to look at him to know that he had jumped due to the surprise, chuckling, she patted the empty seat next to her, signaling him to join her. When he finally moved on to the stool, he could have a better look at her, but only at what was in front of her and not her face, because it was shaded by her hair.

"You haven't answer me." She reminded him lightly, not looking up. Her hands still fiddling with the tiny bullet in her hand. He reached out, wanting to take the bullet to have a better look and also to dismiss the dark thought spinning in his head ever since he made out the object she was playing with.

But, she shook her head, fisting the bullet and finally decided to look at him. "Answer me." She demanded, even with her voice soft, it still sounded powerful.

"No." He sighed, retracting his hand and running it through his hair, then his face in frustration. "Why're you down here at this inhumane hour at night, or should I say, in the morning?" A small smile appeared on his face as he phrased his question, it was too small that she almost missed it.

"Can't sleep." She shrugged, the micro movement seemed more like an imagined respond than something that she had actually done.

"Liar." He accused almost immediately. Her eyes shot up, narrowing at him uncontrollably. "You're a terrible liar, Chase, especially at this ungodly hour in front of me." He chuckled, slowly reaching for her fist, taking advantage of her shocked state, he released the metallic thing grasped in her fingers and took it into his hand.

"What do you mean?" She really couldn't think of anything better to say, she was honestly exhausted.

"You were never in bed were you?" He sighed, placing the bullet in his pajama pocket and not bothered to look at it.

"No." She stared at him for a while with a blank face, then admit defeat, not wanting to play anything coy anymore. "I wasn't."

"Why? I never unwelcome you to my bed."

"I know." She shut her eyes and faced the ceiling. "But I scared you last night." She continued in a small voice, pinching the bridge of her nose.

"Yes, you did." He nodded, wanting her to continue as he stared at her intently. "And you're scaring me right now. Annabeth, there's not a time that you don't scare me, it's just a matter of degree." He confessed sincerely, leaning forward, taking her hands in his, making her reopen her eyes and focus on his.

"Then what should I do? I am incapable of leaving you alone, because you are a lost star in the sky." She whispered, searching for confidence and encouragement in his eyes.

"Do what you think is right." He answered in a heart beat. "I trust you, Annabeth, you and your gut-feeling. I trust them, with my life."

"I'm sorry, Percy." She squeezed his hand, even though he was confused with her apology that came out of the blue, he decided to question it later.

Pursing his lips together, Percy stared at the floor, trying to think of a way to make her open up to him and to share the burden that she had on her shoulders and in her mind, but nothing was coming out. Finally, after what seemed like a decade of staring into space, he decided that he was too tired for his brain to function, so he stood up, still not letting go of her hands.

"C'mon. Let's sleep this off first, shall we?" He suggested gently, tugging on her at her hands, trying to pull her up to her feet.

Reluctantly, she stood up and followed suit, allowing him to lead her to his bedroom.

Laying back in bed, he draped an arm over her stomach, drawing circles on them over her thin cloth. "Just sleep, baby." He whispered in her ear, but he knew her eyes were still wide open and the gears in her mind were still turning furiously. Placing soft kisses from her earlobe to the top of her hair and then back to her shoulder, he was trying his best to distract her, and it seemed to be working, because her eyes started to close.

"It's just another few years on my life sentence."

¢.¢

Percy wasn't able to fall asleep, at all. He tried to force himself to sleep, but he couldn't. He knew he was lucky that he didn't go through all the nasty stuff that the woman next to him did, but whenever he closed his eyes, the image of her with the poison in her hand surfaced. It was agonizing, the evil look in her eyes and the void emotion on her face. He didn't know what she had done to him, but he knew that he wanted to stay with her and to keep her safe.

Turning over ever so carefully, a smile settled on his lips as he saw the woman that had been slowly dominating his heart sound asleep next to him. He was grateful that he had walked down and brought her upstairs. He was grateful for ever thinking of the idea for the film to actually provide him this opportunity for meeting her. All he knew about her was pieces of information that he obtained from website databases and from herself, even if it wasn't all, even if it was a lie, a part in him believed that she did if for a good reason. His intuition had always told him to have faith in this girl and she was still a mortal like everyone else.

Unconsciously, he ran his fingers through her curls that acted like a curtain over her bare shoulders. Separating them, he saw the tattoo that he had remembered kissing less than ten hours ago. It was an improvement from her. He knew it. She didn't say anything to explain, but it was enough for him to know that she was there for him and this would be a symbol for the start of their relationship. He somehow understood the meaning behind the tattoo. It was new and without confirmation from her, he somehow knew that it meant her loyalty and faithfulness towards him. He just wished he could hear it from her.

Leaning in, he placed another gentle kiss on tip of the sword, then trailed the blade until he reached the tip of the hilt, lingering on the trident symbol on his way down. The gesture made her stir in her sleep, a smile split across his face.

"Did I wake you?" He whispered in her ear, making her turn on her back so she could face him.

Nodding shamelessly, she opened her eyes lazily, a smile with the same attitude spread across her lips. The second their eyes locked, he found himself drowning in her gray orbs. They were so different from the look during the day. They were watery, lively and full of positive vibes. He thought he might be the luckiest guy on Earth to wake up seeing the most beautiful pair of eyes in the world.

Staring at his love-sick expression, the innocent smile on her face turned into a smirk. She raised a hand to cup his cheek, and pulled them to his lips. He twisted his head slightly after a kiss on the cheek so that his lips was able to capture hers.

"Slept well, princess?" He didn't know where that nickname came from, but he found it endearing and suitable for her. She snorted at the name but otherwise nodded in response. He chuckled, not knowing where the sudden surge of courage came from.

"Very bold, Mr Jackson." She commented lightly, pecking the tip of his nose even lighter, teasing him with her long slender finger tracing the line of his jaw.

"Ditto." He replied, holding her wrist and lifting it up, showing her the gauze that had been soaked in blood. Her eyes followed his motions and then met his pointed gaze, wincing at the change of expression.

"Touché." She muttered, sitting up at the edge of the bed and peeling off the gauze.

"Are you going to tell me or not?" He asked, sitting down next to her, wrapping an arm around her waist and resting his chin on her shoulder while waiting for her wound to be exposed.

"No." She grunted, not sure where the foul mood came from. "Sorry." She then murmured an apology for taking it out on him. When he didn't reply, she thought she had really angered him, so she stopped and looked at him. She opened her mouth to explain, but he released her before anything could come out of her mouth.

Leaning back down and giving her a lingering kiss on the forehead, he said. "I'll be downstairs if you need me."

"Kay." She uttered barely audibly, not sure what to make of his gestures. She sat in her spot, immobilized as her mind went blank to what just happened. Then, in her fastest speed, she worked through her wound and took off to find him, determined to make it up to him.

"Percy," she called softly when she reached the end of the staircase.

The man turned around to greet her at the entrance of the kitchen. Fresh memory of early morning appeared in his mind as she made her way to the same seat that she had been sitting in just merely five hours ago.

"Do you still have the bullet?" She asked, sitting down and taking the glass of water he offered.

"What?" He turned away from the toaster, shocked by the question. Part of him had successfully convinced himself that what happened last night in this place was a dream, it was his delusion.

"The bullet." She repeated herself, still calm, but the glint in her eyes from the moment she opened her eyes was gone, her eyes returned to the dark and guarded shade. "The one the you took from me this morning." She didn't need to look intimidating to force others obey, her voice had that power even when she didn't try.

"Shit, I thought I imagined all that." He cursed at himself, reaching into his pocket and felt the tiny cold metallic round material. Taking it out slowly and hesitantly, he fixed his eyes on her, ignoring the toaster behind him completely. The toasts were already popped out and ready to be served, but the internal debate in him had seemed to pause everything for him.

"Percy." She called to bring him back to reality. "The bullet?" She asked once again, this time, a little curious and a little worried at the same time. It was in her voice, though barely detectable.

"Yes, sorry. Fuck." He scolded himself for zoning out in the morning, but he was really blaming the lack of sleep. "What do you need it for?" Ah, yes, this was what had been bothering him.

"If you really want to know." She sighed exasperatedly, but from the sound of her voice, he knew it was just tiredness and she didn't mean to sound impatient with him.

"I do and I insist." He took a seat across the table, facing her. The bullet in his hand as he toyed it between his fingers.

"Give it to me before you threw it away in disgust when I tell you the story behind it." She extended her hand, her palm facing up, indicating to him to put it in her palm, but he did no such thing. "I can't do shit with this tiny piece of crap, Perce, just give it to me, I promise I won't use it to harm." She raised her arm in surrender.

That finally got him to yield. Rolling her eyes, she took the bullet from him and place it in front of her, but out of his reach.

"This," pointing to the standing bullet in front of them, she said, "is from a 2.34mm rimfire, a Swiss Mini Gun." Picking up the bullet in between her fingers, nipping it at the tip of her thumb and index finger, she brought it closer to her eyes. "It came out of my arm." She used her other hand to point at the gauzed wound.

"Who did this to you?" He stared at her in horror, but the expression wasn't mirrored on her face. In fact, she was calm, more calm that he had ever seen her, she might as well find it boring.

Not answering straight away, she reached into her pants pocket, taking out the smallest weapon that he had ever seen. Placing it on the table next to the bullet. She looked back up at him, waiting for his reaction.

"Stop playing with me, Chase." The hysterical laugh coming from him told her that he found it ridiculous and unbelievable. It was the reaction that she got from most people when she showed them the combination, without the wound of course. "What are you really hiding that I can't know? You've told me so much already."

"I've told you nothing, Jackson." She sneered, hating his tone.

"Then, tell me what kind of game are you playing or what death trap are you luring me into?" He huffed.

"I've told you that I would and will never do that to you. Why can't you understand?"

"Because you've been sending mixed signals and you've been nothing but confusing ever since I met you in jail five years ago." He yelled. Even though she didn't jump at his outburst, she was indeed surprised by it.

"Well, I'm truly sorry about that." She shrugged, not meaning the apology as much.

"Tell me what's all this about, drama queen." He stood up, pointing at the weapons displayed in front of her.

"This is the bullet that I extracted from my wound," she raised her arm, indicating to her injury, and continued in the same calm voice, "this is the gun that shot out the bullet." She picked up the respective objects as she mentioned them. "As an answer to your previous question, I did this to myself."

"Why?" The inquiry came out instantly after her voice faded.

She shrugged.

"Tell me, Annabeth, you're hiding enough from me."

Annabeth contemplated on retorting, but when she remembered the hurtful and fearful expression on his face, she quickly dismissed her initial respond. "It's an experiment."

"You do experiments on yourself?" He stared at her with wide eyes, looking at her as if she wasn't the same species as him.

"Yes. Sometimes." She said. "I thought I can pull this off, but maybe not this time."

"What else have you done to yourself? And, why? Why would you fucking do that to yourself?"

"I've done a lot to myself, a hell lot. Though, not as much as damage has been made compared to what my parents did to me, but enough for me to obtain my data and my result."

"Why?"

Annabeth went silence as he pressed on, it was close to her deepest secret, it was time for her to stay quiet. She wanted to leave, but the look on his face made her reject the thought.

"Fuck!" She slammed her fist on the table, making him jump, but she wasn't angry at him, she was just trying to get out her own frustration.

"Annabeth?" He asked quietly, staring at her helplessly, waiting for her next move, or outburst.

"I'm sorry." She looked at him sincerely, then covering her face up with her hand.

"What is it, baby?" He walked closer to her. All she could think of now was how could she deserve such a patient, sweet and warm man.

"Nothing." She muttered from behind her hands. "It's just that," she revealed her face. Her eyes were sad, they held no tears, but this was the only emotion it was showing right now. It only broke his heart seeing her upset.

"What?" He urged her to continue, taking her hand in his and squeezing it encouragingly. "Tell me, baby." He kissed the back of it gently, his eyes still glued to her, waiting for her.

"If I tell you, you'll never be looking at me the same." She finished her sentence as her voice broke and wavered; faltering as she lose confidence little by little. She avoided eye contact with him and removed her eyes from the room, focusing on the balcony door that was allowing a stray of sunshine come through as if trying to light up the mood with the bright yellow light.

"No, I would never…" His voice failed his intended emotion, but before this could completely sell him out, she held up a hand to stop him, completely oblivious to his tone of voice. He stopped and swallowed, trying to decide whether or not he would like her to say what she had to say.

"Not so fast, Percy." She raised her now glossy eyes, glancing at him briefly before turning away, trying to conceal the tears that were threatening to pour out.

"Tell me then, you're not going to know until you tell me." His patience was wearing thin, both of them could sense it.

Annabeth knew she had to give him a satisfying answer, but she didn't know which to tell. There was so much that he didn't know, she had been keeping him in the dark for as long as possible, even though everything she did had some relationship with him.

Pulling her hand away from his, she hugged herself as she rubbed her upper arm, not knowing where that nervousness all came from, but she found herself shaking her head at him in respond to his request. He sighed exasperatedly, running a frustrating hand through his hair, pulling it as if it would get rid of his frustration and anger.

"Fine, how about we talk about something else?" He took a seat right in front of her, there were no physical barrier in between, their flesh would be touching if she wasn't curling up trying to let the world swallow her. She stared at him warily, her mind told her not to give in, but her emotions gave in. She hated seeing him disappointed and hated to keep everything from him, she hated the thought of leaving him. She had surprised herself already by admitting her feelings for him, and also recognizing him as her boyfriend, it was already too much and too quick for her to register. She had never felt so uncontrollable of her feelings and her own emotions, never felt so vulnerable in the world that she was still controlling.

All those feelings and emotions led to the unconscious nod of approval from her, it was the most micro gesture, but the motion was not missed by him.

"What do you mean 'it's just another few years on my life sentence'?" He quoted her from the night.

Hearing the exact same words made her flinch, she placed her forehead on her knees that she was hugging closer, trying to convince herself that she was dreaming, it couldn't be true. She had let another secret of hers slide, she had subconsciously forced herself to her plan b.

"It means what it means." Annabeth looked up, all emotions cleared from her face, it was just the blank void face that Percy hated but find himself facing every time. "It's just another few years in jail." She shrugged nonchalantly, the criminal in her starting to take control.

"What does that mean? You're not going back are you? What have you done? Or, maybe, what have you been doing?" All those questions were thrown to her, overwhelming her. The inquiries poured out of his mouth like flowing water rushing through a newly opened gate. "Where have you been all those time that I was on set? You've not spent a penny that I gave you, you've not leave any record that I can possibly track, you've never told me anything about your day. I didn't press because I thought you don't want to share it, but what the fuck are you up to? Who are you exactly? Who the fuck did I fell for?" He whispered the last part to himself, looking like a rock hit him square in the face, but realization didn't dawn on him.

"You've fell in love with a criminal mastermind that is the claimed most wanted mob leader, whom is also doing her best to protect the only person left on the planet that she can possibly love with everything she can." She started with a mutter, but soon turned into a passionate declaration, too emotional that she slammed her mug down on the table, ignoring the liquid flowing down the table as she stood up, towering over him and glaring straight into his eyes.

"Is that so? Trying to protect some guy and using it as an excuse to continue your illegal organization. Are you trying to get me arrested? You do know that I've fought my whole life to be here and with the reputation I have right now." They were now face to face, both of them were too angry to stay seated. "Do you know how much it would cost me to let the public find out that you're the girl that got of jail unclean while associated with me?"

"If I'm as stupid as you think I am, then you might as well think that I'm a fucking gold-digging whore." Glancing at the door, she thought she should leave before she said anything that she would regret.

"Don't you dare just walk out of that door." He moved to stand in her way, gritting his teeth while towering down at her, forcing her to lean against the table.

"Or what?" She challenged with her arms crossed in front of her chest. "How dumb can you be? You know it full well that I didn't get in prison because of my actions, because I don't have any criminal record."

"Yes, yes, yes, yada, yada, yada. You were scapegoated." He rolled his eyes. "You got in jail because you got fucked by some lawyer and judges. But that doesn't change the fact that you've got your mind set into illegal trade even when you're in jail. Maybe you didn't commit any crime before you got in, but you're definitely wasted your redemption time in jail." He spat.

"You really have no idea how deep you are in this shit." She hissed, leaning up to him to be closer to his face. "Yes I was scapegoated, but lawyers didn't fuck me, because I ain't got a court. I was been put straight into jail, it was one of the rare case that was not negotiable. Why? Because I'm serving the sentences that my parents were supposed to serve. They died, and I became their scapegoat, simply because everyone hated them too much to think that I, their innocent daughter that had been their experiment ever since, deserved to be punished for their crimes."

"So you're a sociopath?" He whispered.

"I've got no personality disorder whatsoever!" She yelled out in frustration. "I hated my parents, because they've not only brought me to a world that I've never want to be a part of, destroyed the life that I was supposed to get growing up, ruined me as a person both physically and mentally, torn me to shreds as if I was just a piece of ordinary paper with their fingerprints. Then, at last, tossed me in jail, because they realized that the time for them had come. Perhaps, that was the only responsible thing they've ever done in their entire life. Even their marriage was a lie, you have just no idea how messed-up their sex lives were, it was unbearable."

She panted after all those shouting and ranting, after all, she didn't even know if he was still listening. The tears had left a trail on her cheeks some time during her rambling, but it was already dried. Refusing to take the water that he was offering her, she had only one thought in mind, and that was to correct all his misinterpretation of her and her life.

Yes, she was finally opening up to him about her past. It was a first to her.

"They only gave me ten years, because someone actually had a heart and pitied me. Why? Simply because I was dragged to prison on my birthday when I was having the most fun. Yes, that's after my parents' death, when I can finally have some fun as a teenager, I was been invited to jail."

"So," after a long pause, when he saw that her breathing had returned to normal, he started in a croaked voice, "all those information that I got about you from the database are wrong." She gave him a small nod. Immediately, she found herself been engulfed in a tight hug from him, she could feel the remorse from him and the apologies that he didn't tell her verbally. They were all radiating off from him.

"Percy," she pulled away carefully, holding his gaze, silently asking if he was ready for the next part, "that's not it."

"I know, baby." He cleared away the tear stains with his thumb, trying to sound empathetic. "You're holding back a lot, I can tell, but I want you to tell me everything you can. I don't want to be left out cold, I hate staying in the dark without being able to help you."

"But I can't." Frustration rushed back to her once again. "I cannot! And that's the thing, I just can't tell you."

"Why then?"

"Because," she went silenced to think through her answer, "I'm not risking anything, especially not you."

"What are you talking about?" He was looking worried as ever.

"I didn't want to be an actual criminal after being released from jail, but I have to take over my parents' organization. I can guarantee that if I didn't take control, it will soon turn to a terrorist association. I'm sure of it." She said it with so much confidence that he almost thought he understood everything. "All I've been trying to do with Luke every time we meet up is to think of a way to legalize the actions that can easily be caught by authorities. We're only forced to do that because we are very close with the police right now. Due to a case that had been dug up recently."

When she mentioned about legalizing her group's actions, his mind went to a conversation that he had with Nico, just the picture that she had taken with the surveillance camera. He suddenly remembered.

Nico was warning him about her, he was suggesting to him that she only stayed with him because she had to keep an eye on him, that explained why she was already at home when he got back, no matter how early or late. He had also told him that she was a dangerous figure to stay around with. Percy gave him the benefit of the doubt.

"Is that the secret that you're trying to keep from me?" He whispered, not sure how he should piece the two together, his gut was telling him that those two pieces of information belonged together, but he wasn't sure how to combine the jigsaws to one.

"No." She answered instantly, thinking to the actual dark secret that she had in her. "The one that I would never tell you is personal, very personal."

"So its true then," this phrase that was more than familiar caught her full attention, "Nico's right when he told me that you're only staying with me because you want to keep an eye on me." Hurt evident in his eyes and on his face, "I didn't believe him, because I've always believed that deep down, you don't believe in living a criminal career, I thought you won't be doing so, but apparently I'm-"

"No! You're not wrong about me!" She cut him off quickly, fearing what was coming out of his mouth next. "At least not entirely." Her voice decreased in volume as the next part barely came out in a whisper. "You have to have faith in me, because I…" She didn't know how to phrase the next sentence, she was feeling too much right now.

"Why were you downstairs yesterday night, apart from the fact that you don't want to violate my privacy."

"I was thinking." She replied honestly, eyeing the bullet and the gun still laying on the table behind her.

"About what?"

"Everything." His lack of response told her that she should elaborate. "My past, the present; my feelings, towards my career, my life, you; everything that I can possibly think of."

"What about your feelings to me? What conclusions have you drawn?" Of course he only captured this part, even if she had tried to slip it through as fast as possible, it would be sensitive for him nevertheless.

"I find myself incapable of leaving your side." She whispered, surprising herself of the revelation. It was something that she had never said to anyone, even when the thought was extremely strong in her.

"Ditto." He murmured. "So, don't leave."

"How?"

"Say you won't let go."


	11. XI

**The loner: Cheesy much? ;)**

 **Enjoy.**

* * *

 _Just say you won't let go..._

"Percy, I can't." Annabeth grabbed his shirt, fisting it in her hand so tight that wrinkles formed. "You know I can't. I cannot keep the promise, I will but I won't say a promise that I can't keep."

"What do you mean?"

"I will let you down."

"You won't, you never will."

"I will drag you down." She rephrased it, thinking that it may be a better way to tell him what she was really trying to tell him.

"How?"

"You don't understand."

"Enlighten me then."

Annabeth exhaled deeply and inhaled, desperately wanting a burning cigaret in her hand, so she could at least get rid of some frustration.

"Can we talk about all this another time?"

"Will you tell me everything then?"

"Yes, I promise."

"And is that a promise that you can keep?"

"Yes. I swear on the old gods and the new."

¢.¢

True to their words, they'd let it slide that morning. Though, after their infuriating talk all morning, it was already afternoon by the time they had calmed down and gotten past the single event that had happened. It wasn't exactly the best start for either of them, especially after an awful night sleep.

"Any plans for today, baby?" Percy chirped, trying to lighten the mood and make both of them forget about the morning. He asked once she stepped out of the shower with only a towel wrapping her torso. She was examining the wound, but as tempting as it was to him, he knew better than to ask about it.

"Nope. What do you have in mind?" Annabeth looked up, forgetting the wound on her arm while rubbing her palm over it, feeling the hole underneath her hand. She, too, was trying. He could tell that because she would never be enthusiastic about his plan, even when it was simply to order take out. She just had too much in mind, and sometimes, he wondered how her brain could actually function with everything that was inside.

"I was thinking of going on a date." He pretended to be musing, but actually had already gotten the request loaded. "So, what do you say?" He asked, knowing that the worst would be a rejection, which he was fully prepared for.

She raised an eyebrow at him, silently questioning his timing, but uttered nothing of that sort from her mouth. "Sure." Was all he needed to be caught off guard. At that instant, he felt his eyes light up and his heart soaring into the sky. He didn't know he would be this happy, he only planned it to make it up to her for this morning for no reason at all. Just feeling like it.

"Do you want to have dinner outside?" He asked, standing up ready to leave the room for her to change.

"I don't mind." She shrugged.

"Okay." He said, getting to the door and reaching for the door knob.

"Wait." She called, interrupting his thoughts. He turned around, the door still closed. "When? Where? What?"

"When? I'll come up to get you. Where? A cinema. What? What do you mean what?" The last part came out like an irony, which made her laugh a little, at the vagueness of her own question.

"What do I wear?" She said between chuckles. It was rare for her to be carefree for once, and this was somehow worrying him, because it seemed like the peace before the storm.

"Casual and comfy stuff. Anything you want."

"Last question." She stopped him in his track.

"Yes, darling?" He joked.

"Stay?" This came out more like a statement than a question, but she forced a question mark behind it. More like doubting herself rather than actually asking him to do what she wanted.

"Okay." He was confused by the request, it was very uncommon from her. "With all due respect, my queen, but why?"

"I want you to choose my outfit." The bewildered look on his face made the grin on her face grew even wider. "Surprise me." She bit her bottom lip seductively.

"If you're giving me that attitude, I doubt we can make it to the cinema in time."

"And why is that, Percy?" She whispered his name seductively. Her natural scratchy voice made it sound more attractive and husky.

"Annabeth." He turned away from her closet, giving her a warning look. "I mean it."

"Okay, okay." She chuckled, taking a seat at the end of the bed, watching his hand move and his head tilting from one side to another as he rummage through her limited choice of clothing. That was when she realized that she was still wrapped in the towel. "Can you speed up? The towel is falling off." She proclaimed in a singing voice.

"I know what you're trying to do, so stop it before you regret it." He stepped closer to her, the chosen outfit in his hand. Straddling her at the end of the bed, he leaned in and whispered in her ear. A hand of his went to her cheek, it was warm and gentle; his eyes were conveying two messages, joy and lust.

Annabeth bit her bottom lip quickly, licking them in a seductive motion. She could feel him getting hard above him as he was still straddled over her. Reaching into his arms, she went for the top that he'd chosen for her. They were all dark color themed.

"Why?"

"Why what?"

"All those colors? Dark and shady."

"You told me to surprise you."

"And you're doing a great job." She said with an undertone that held another layer of meaning. She smirked, slowly undoing the towel that was covering her body, she kept her eyes on him, desperate to gnaw and torture him. His reaction would simply be enough for her, for now.

"Stop trying to seduce me. You're just one step into succeeding. Please, stop trying. I'm all yours once we get back alright?" He groaned, getting off her and started to walk to the door.

"Stay, please." She requested once again, when he'd just reached the door.

"Since when are you so clingy around me?" He wondered out loud, giving her a funny look.

"Well, things happen right? People change."

"Not this fast."

"Well, it can simply be a sudden change of feeling. I feel like clinging on you today." She smiled a cheeky grin, directed at him. The teenager in her was entertaining him very much and he loved that part of her, never wanting her to ever turn back to the adult that he had met in the prison cell.

"So, what movie are we watching?"

¢.¢

 _Click click, flash…_

"Shit!" Annabeth hadn't even figured out what was happening before she found herself been pulled away by Percy. "Duck your head, and keep it down." He said in her ears before wrapping an arm around her waist to pull her closer to him. In front of her, his security was making a way for them. "Don't say anything, just ignore them." He told her, keeping her closer as the question thrown to them from the paparazzi got wilder.

Once they ducked into the back of his car, the paparazzi swarmed around his car, some trying to slam their fist on the window. Annabeth buried her head in his shirt, trying to make everything stop. She couldn't afford to be seen in public. Not because the police would track her down, but because she had a higher chance of getting caught red handed when she was with Luke talking about their team. Nothing had been going in the direction that she had wanted.

"Why?" She groaned, pulling away from him as they finally got rid of the group of people with cameras in hand. "This is going to be headline news tomorrow."

"Yep, no doubt of that." He replied sarcastically. "I'm so sorry about that. I don't know how they found me." He pulled her closer, letting her head fall on his shoulder. "Just rest."

She nodded, but then she thought of something. "It's good. Your movie." She lifted her head from his shoulder to look at his reaction.

He stared at her. "I thought it wasn't that close to reality."

"But I'm sure that's what Piper's telling you. It's close enough." She replied, a sad smile surfaced when she mentioned the name of her former best friend. Former, because she no longer had any contact with her, even though she was seeing her a lot, but always from afar.

"So you didn't like it?"

"No, I loved it." She turned to give him an incredulous look. "You've got no idea how hard it was to get a compliment out of me." Her egoistic side made her felt necessary to add this last part.

"So I should be feeling lucky?" He teased, wrapping an arm around her waist and pulling her even closer to him.

"Yes, you should, bastard." She joked back, punching his toned stomach with her fist playfully. He clutched it in respond to the surprise attack. "Everyone who knew me will tell you that I never compliment people, let alone telling them I loved it."

"Do you happen to love the producer also?"

"Such a bold move." She commented lightly but gave no response to the question that he'd asked.

"Tell me about yourself, Annabeth." He requested out of the blue, breaking the silence not long after it begun.

"What?" She was only surprised by the request and not sure how to respond, she wasn't declining, but she was tempting to.

"I know nothing about you, but you knew everything about me, even with the things that I don't know myself." He raised an eyebrow, as if challenging her to deny the facts that he was referring to.

"Fair point." She mused to herself. "Where am I going to start?"

"You tell me."

"Very helpful, Mr Jackson." She scoffed, resting her chin on his shoulder, taking a closer look at his face. "Fine, how about my jail time. I've told you about my early life, and I think it's necessary to spare you every detail."

"Whatever helps you sleep at night, Miss." He rolled his eyes, but let her continued.

"You do, in actual fact, help me sleep at night." She smirked at her witty respond which caught him off guard.

"Whatever." He couldn't contain the smile so he let it out instead.

"Fun fact, I almost prolonged my jail time." She said, not missing a beat with the joking.

"What do you mean you almost did that?" The look on his face told her that he was no longer in the joking mood, but actually turned serious.

"I was too rebellious." She shrugged as she informed him nonchalantly. "I didn't find a way to tame the guards and I attract too much attention. Only because I believe that I am innocent and knew exactly why I'm in, so I wanted to get out and prove my innocence."

"Which made everything worse." He concluded for her.

"Yes. Now, next topic. Jail's no fun, honestly, and after seeing that movie of yours, I'd really like to keep my imaginations virtual." She smiled at him, giving him a cheeky grin that didn't exactly suit her personality.

"Oh, and before I forget. Do you have anything tomorrow or are you staying in?" She asked, not spoiling the purpose of her question.

"I'm staying at home, why?" He narrowed his eyes at her, not sure which direction his brain should think towards.

"Expect a visitor."

"Who might that be?"

¢.¢

"Luke, I've warned you already not to show up at the door, especially not today like this." Annabeth opened the door wide, letting the somewhat expected guest into the room.

"But I saw the news, and I thought you might want to call this emergency meeting. I don't know what to do, because it's too out of hand." The guy with sandy-blond hair stepped in, trying to justify his actions despite the death glare he was receiving from her.

"And what part of 'do not come find me' do you not understand from yesterday?" She hissed in his face, not wanting to wake up Percy, who was still asleep upstairs in bed. Annabeth was only foresighted enough to see the arrival of Luke, so she had gotten up early in the morning knowing that this guy would show up.

"I just thought it was necessary, perhaps you would've changed your mind and wanted me here." He was still trying to explain, but Annabeth wasn't taking any of them.

She led him through the hall and went straight to the kitchen where she poured him a glass of water, not even bothered to ask him what he actually wanted. She was beyond angered by his actions, not that she wasn't expecting it.

"Sit and we can start from here." She said, pointing to the empty seat across the table from where she was seated. "And, keep your voice down, Percy's still asleep." Luke raised an eyebrow, confused by her command. "I should be expecting you at this ungodly hour." She elaborated and explained to him in a dissing tone. He nodded, accepting the chastise.

"Are you still keeping a close eye on him?" He went straight to the topic.

"That's needless to do." She waved a dismissive hand. "He's completely in the dark."

"Why? Do you not know that the investigation might get to us at any second?""

"I am well aware of it." Annabeth rolled her eyes. "But, he shouldn't be involved, at least shouldn't have any of the knowledge, it's too dangerous for an inexperienced man like him."

"But you do know it's Nico whose behind all this right?"

"Yes," she rolled her eyes again, "of course I know, I even know why he dug up the case."

"They've not yet connect the dots, but they got the glasses and retrieved the reports on their bodies."

"I really don't know why he's starting on my parents' case. It's really useless."

"He wants to avenge his sister by putting you behind bars again." He shrugged, thinking that his explanation might be decent.

"That's his ultimate goal, but he doesn't know that this will not lead to my charges. My parents' death had nothing to do with me, I can't be blamed or held for anything. He's stupid to dwell upon it."

"But that's the only thing he knew and could get ahold of when he knew your relationship with Bianca."

"So? He went to the police and told them that my parents' death case should be reinvestigated. How very useful of him."

"Despite all that, what do you reckon we do?"

"Nothing."

"What?" Luke's eyes widened in shock, it wasn't a common answer from his boss, she had always got a plan, because she could just conjure one out of thin air right on the spot, there wasn't once that she was loss for a scheme.

"I said, there's nothing we can do. What part of it do you have trouble understand?" She gave him an irritated look, hating the fact that people had always depended on her to come up with something when there really wasn't a point to do so. "We only have to make sure that Percy doesn't get involved and dragged in."

"Why are you dwelling on him then?"

"Because he's innocent, you asshole." She hit her fist on the table to release part of her frustration, the dumbass in front of her just couldn't understand her motives sometimes. "Unlike my parents, Luke, I have a heart. Even if I'm the criminal mastermind."

"What do I do then?"

"Keep conducting your business and report to me if his name had been mentioned anywhere in any shape or form." She ordered, but before she could say anything further, her thoughts had been interrupted by the sharp gasp and inhale from the blond in front of her. Following his sight, she turned around and saw Percy standing at the doorway, staring at her with curiosity.

"Morning." She greeted, trying to act casual, she wasn't sure how much he'd heard, but she knew she had to tell him one day, sooner or later.

"Who's name?"

"Your name." Luke butted in before Annabeth was able to register what he was referring to. "Ouch, fuck." He swore when he got a kick on the shin from her as hard as she could.

"He doesn't need to know that." She hissed angrily at him.

"What don't I need to know?" Percy pressed, walking closer to her.

"He doesn't know?" Luke appeared to be surprised, his eyes darting between Percy and Annabeth.

"Of course he doesn't, bastard." She face-palmed as she tried to think of a way to explain everything whilst keeping everything simple.

" _He_ is right here, for your information." Percy announced from behind Annabeth's chair, she was well aware of his presence.

"Get out, Luke. Now!" She ordered, looking at the blond who seemed to be offended but was afraid to show. He started to inch slowly to the door as if she might change her mind. "Hurry up! And keep your mouth shut, bastard." She demanded as she kicked him out of the door, locking it behind her as she turned back to the kitchen, seeing Percy who took a seat next to the table.

Once Luke was completely out of sight and Annabeth back to the kitchen, sitting down on the chair across Percy, fiddling with her shirt sleeves nervously. It was Percy who spoke first, breaking the ice.

"Tell me everything." His voice was soft yet demanding. There was no sign of hatred or disgust, nor contempt in his eyes, nothing negative that she thought she would receive from him. She had prepared herself for another fight with him, but his request surprised her.

"You never cease to surprise me, Percy." She retorted in a whisper as she stood up, finishing the water that she offered to Luke and placing the glass in the sink. "I'm gonna show you something, be prepared." She decided, walking to the door, grabbing his keys on her way and went outside in a series of swift movements, only for her to stay determined with her decision. "Got everything?" She asked, eyeing his choice of clothes, they looked like a night gown, at least nothing that he would wear if he was to make a public appearance.

"Where are we going?" She knew he was hesitating to change into a more decent clothing, but she thought she might lose all the courage that she finally mustered if she allowed him or herself to go back.

"You don't need to change, no one's going to recognize you." She promised assuringly while pulling him out of the house.

Once they were out of the elevator, the crowd and the flashing blue and red light made Annabeth wince. A cringeworthy moment in both of their lives, she was only lucky because no one knew who she was. At least that was her ideology.

"Jesus fucking hell!" Percy cursed out loud as Annabeth punched the button.

"Shit, shit, shit." She chanted. "Shall we go back and change, and then go from the back gate?" She asked, trying to sound and remain calm for him. "I'm sorry." She muttered under her breath as the elevator doors closed again, they were in the quiet once more.

"You don't need to change, you're fine in those." He said, looking at her outfit up and down. Indeed, she was fine in her long sleeves and a pair of thin yoga pants. Even though she was wearing a pair of slippers, they look almighty fine on her with the other clothes she had on.

She raised an eyebrow at him, followed him out of the elevator to the one that would lead them to his penthouse. She watched him punch in the code in silence, still wondering if he had said what he said in the public elevator because he was annoyed that the paparazzi were at his door, or because of her sudden request of leaving with her in a rush. She didn't know why he said that, but the more she thought about it, the less she wanted to ask, even though she was eager to know the reason.

"I'll wait for you by the elevator." She informed him quietly in a cautious voice as her eyes followed his back as he made his way to the stairs to his bedroom. He nodded, but didn't turn back to look at her.

Walking to the huge balcony that would put the whole city in display, she plopped her forearms on the railings as she bent over to look down at the moving cars on the busy street. Her phone vibrated in her pocket, that reminded her of the two-colored light that was flashing in front of the building entrance. She remembered how shocked she was to see the police getting involved. Taking it out thinking it might be from Luke, she peered at the now lit up screen.

It showed a voicemail from him. She didn't even know that he had called, let alone a voicemail that had just reached her mail box. Frowning, she slide her finger over the notification and placed the phone near her ear.

"I'm just testing out this new technology, Annabeth." There was a short pause, she was wondering if he was going to explain what he was talking about, but apparently he didn't do that. "I saw the paps around the penthouse when I head out so I called the police to get rid of them, reporting them as a source of riot and disturbance. I didn't press any charges, you know why." Yes, she did. The policemen were a group of dangerous people to work with, especially when Annabeth herself wasn't exactly the most innocent person. "Anyways, I just want to warn you to be careful around them. Other than that, everything's smooth and well." Followed by a beep, signaling to her that the voicemail was finished. She let out a deep chortle from her throat as she let her phone lock itself.

Annabeth was thinking of the ways that she could skin him alive for being so oblivious and scaring her half to death by sending the police force to her. A smile appeared on her evil looking face, making her radiate off even more deviant vibes.

"What're you smiling at?" Percy's voice from the back startled her.

"Shit." She scolded him after recovering from her shock. "Why can't you just show up like what a normal boyfriend?" She chided him jokingly.

"Well, as a matter of fact, I don't happen to have a normal girlfriend." He tilted her chin slightly and leaned down, planting a soft kiss on her lips. She had no idea how they managed to become so intimate after several days of tensed atmosphere between them. Truth to be told, the tension still exists, but for some reason, it wasn't there when he surprised her.

"Really?" She nudged him in the shoulders, shoving him out in the process. He just shrugged in respond, it was pointless to bring up the serious subject, he was close to finding his answers anyways.

"Aren't you taking me somewhere?" He reminded her in the same casual tone that she had used on him when she was in a lovey-dovey mood. Coming from him, the question sounded so chill and nonchalant, she often wondered how could he just make everything sound nice and look nice when he wanted to. He could literally wear any clothes and still look handsome.

"Like what you see?" He snuck an arm around her waist, winking at her, taking her out of her trance. She just realized that she had been staring at him, admiring his face and taking in his features.

"Mm." She nodded, looking away, unable to contain the rise of a giddy feeling. Fishing out the keys and started to twist it around her fingers, making them dangle from the keychain. Hiding a smirk, she had to look down at the ground and focus on the pattern of the floor that was changing as they reached the service elevator that would lead them to the back door of the lobby.

"Do you want me to drive?" He asked, only out of courtesy, since he wasn't a fond of driving either. Usually, he'd have his chauffeur here, but he knew she didn't like a staff following them in general, so he only ordered his bodyguards to follow them in a car behind them and do their job from a distance.

"No, it's fine." She thanked him and got into the driver's seat behind the wheel as he got into the passenger's seat. Inserting the key, she took her time examining the structure and controls of his car before switching the ignition on. Reaching into her pocket, she took out a blind fold. "I'm going to be completely honest with you, Percy, I don't want to hide anything from you, so I'm going to tell you now, put this on." She handed the black fabric to him, giving him a look to tell him that she wasn't joking when she said he needed to wear a blindfold. "I'm not kidnapping you, you're safe. Trust me. You can have your security team do whatever they want to me if you got hurt. But, I'm making you wear them because I don't want you to know the location of the place that I'm bringing you to." She exhaled when she said the last part, a weight lifted from her shoulders.

Percy pulled the blindfold down after nodding to her, telling her that he understood her.

"Also, I've asked your staff to not track us and not to follow." She added, while testing the breaks and all the other basic controls that she needed to test.

He snapped his head towards her, pulling the blindfold down, revealing his worried green-eyes. "What?"

"Percy, I don't care if you trust me or not, but you have to this time." She sighed, knowing this sounded bad coming from her, his girlfriend. "Our relationship is not normal, we both know, but can you please just gamble for the very last time?" She almost pleaded. "It will be your very last gamble with me." She hugged the steering wheel to find comfort and support. "Just this once?" She begged. "You've asked for it and I've got no reason to reject that request anymore."

"Then where are you bringing me?" He demanded, not sure what she was actually talking about. "What do you mean I've asked for it?"

"Can you just bear your curiosity for just an hour? I promise, if you just close your eyes, you'll no longer be in the dark before you know it; and you will have control over yourself and your life again. But until then, I am in power." She knew it sounded it like a threat, and she knew it would work, but she didn't know if she wanted it to be a threat or it just came out due to her instincts.

"Fine. This will be the last time?" He asked her, holding up a finger just to clarify. She nodded firmly, her eyes filled with hope for the first time in a long while.

"Blindfold on, and you can start dreaming." She let out a relieved sigh when he obeyed. Annabeth started the car and drove out of his driveway. She kept checking her back to make sure that they weren't being followed, especially not by his securities and not by her enemies.

Once they've gotten on the highway, she turned on the radio, letting some soft music take over the atmosphere in the car. She noticed that Percy's chest was rising up and down in a constant pace, indicating that he had fallen asleep. Not long after the observation, she heard a soft snore coming from him. The next time she casted her eyes over to his face, she saw a drool stain coming out of the corner of his mouth, causing her to chuckle. Not wanting to wake him up, she restrained herself from wiping the drool from him. He looked absolutely adorable and cute in his sleeping form, even with blindfold on. Shaking her head in disbelieve, her mind drifted to every encounter that she had ever had with him. It shocked her of how quick her feelings changed and how much she had actually fallen for him, an ass that she used to diss in front of her friends.


	12. XII

**Enjoy.**

* * *

Just when the car was running down the highway smoothly and steadily, music filling the inside of the car as the Hollywood star leaned against his luxurious leather seat, snoring and drooling, taking his sweet nap. The strong vibration coming from the brick like object in front of the wheel caught the driver's attention. The blonde eyed the road and took her eyes off for a moment to reach for the vibrating object. Lifting her eyes back on to the road to check for any change, she glanced at the screen, debating whether she should take it or not. When she was about to put it back, not wanting to disturb the silence mainly, she saw the caller ID, Luke.

Sighing, Annabeth slid her thumb across the bottom of the phone, accepting the call. She didn't speak, she was waiting for the other side to make the first move, like she always did with every conversation.

"We've got Nico here in HQ with us." Luke's voice came from the other side of the line, a feeling that sounded like excitement radiating off him as he spoke. Annabeth nodded in acknowledgement of the information, he was very obedient when it came to reporting and that was what she liked about him. "But, he's not co-operating." He voiced his concerns and the problem that he was facing, or more like the issue that they'd encountered and waited for their boss's response.

"With what reasons are you holding him hostage?" The blonde kept her voice low, glancing at the figure next to her, she had to make sure that Percy was still sound asleep - partially because the conversation was confidential, partially because she didn't want to wake him.

"I think we've got proves that he dug up the case." Her minion beamed at her, she could literally sense the enthusiasm from him even over the phone. Rolling her eyes, she moisten her lips in an attempt to get rid of some nervousness that she was feeling.

"You've got to be fucking kidding me, Castellan." She growled back into the phone, glancing at Percy, who stirred after her outburst. "Out of all the time that you've had, you chose this moment. Tell me this is the best you can do." She scoffed, "can you be more stupid?" She huffed.

"I didn't know what to do, because I just got the information and I thought I should act fast." He defended himself.

"You could've just informed me in advance, you idiot." She knew that she had already woken him up, so she decided to finish letting out her anger before apologizing. "Do you know how much workload you're adding on to my plate right now? Do you even have a fucking brain, Luke Castellan?" She paused, phrasing the last command that she would give him over the phone. "Just stay out of my sight for as long as I tell you otherwise." She ordered, hanging up before he could have a chance to even say a 'yes, boss', she was too pissed off by his timing.

"Fuck my life." She slammed her fist on the steering wheel, making the car swivel a little to the plantation next to them, but she quickly adjusted it and returned to the lane.

After a while of driving in silence, she could feel Percy's eyes on her, even from behind the blindfold, she could tell that he was focused on her and had been since he woke up.

"Sorry I woke you." She muttered the apology, only glancing at him to check if he still had his blindfolds on. He did. When he didn't reply, she started to panic, hoping that she hadn't enrage him. "You drool when you sleep." She blurted out before it could process through her brain.

Percy let that phrase sank into his brain, then he laughed. "You certainly are something, Annabeth." He commented, adjusting himself in the seat to a more comfortable position for him. "I like it." He then added, just to make sure that what he said didn't offend her.

Few moments later, when he was about to apologize, he heard a chuckle coming from her direction, sounding like her. "Thank you." She said between her chuckles. "I'll take it as a compliment then, Percy." She feigned courtesy, and he could feel the playfulness in her eyes when she turned to look at him briefly.

"How far along are we now?" He asked, sinking back down in his seat, finding the position more suitable for a blindfolded person like himself.

"We're almost there." She assured him, feeling guilty for making him suffer. "We're off the highway now, so there's only a few miles left." She almost said the name of the place out loud, but held it back. The decision was hesitant, but she thought it was necessary.

When she scanned her surroundings as she waited for the last traffic light to turn green, another internal debate had started in her mind. Should she give Percy a heads-up or not about Nico and what he was about to learn?

¢.¢

"Um… Percy?" She turned to her boyfriend, as she made one last turn into the lot.

The figure beside her stirred in respond to the call, but then it was it. Annabeth laughed lightly to herself. Reaching for the card in her chest pocket, she rolled down the window and handed it to the guard that was waiting for it. He took the card, swiped it against a machine that was behind him without looking at the content of the card, then handed back to the owner. When the machine beeped a green light, he bowed slightly, stepping back as the arm lifted in front of her. She eased the car into the opening. That was the last security to the parking lot on the ground floor and the second last to the garage.

"We're here, Percy." She gently placed a hand on his thigh, squeezing it and moving it slightly to alert him. "Wake up, sleepyhead." She cooed softly, observing the reaction from him. "Hey, if you don't wake up, I'm seriously considering on taking a test on you to see if I've drugged you unintentionally." Her voice raised a little as she punched his side. "Okay, don't say I didn't warn you." Rolling her eyes, she decided to follow through with her plan.

Making sure that she was in an empty parking space, she leaned over and peeled off the blindfold that was covering his eyes. A smile touched his lips after several failed attempts to suppress it. His eyes were still closed, but she knew he wasn't asleep now. Unbuckling her seatbelt, she reached over, using her fingers to carefully peel open one of his eye lids.

"Oh, so you're clean." She pretended to muse over her observation of his orbs. She was about to pull away when two hands grabbed hers, pulling them with it.

Annabeth yelped in surprise, but was soon silenced by his kiss. His hands made their way to her scalp, lacing it through strands of hair as hers mirrored the actions. As Percy unbuckled his own seatbelt to place a hand on her waist to deepen the kiss, she stopped him. Much to their disappointment. "Not here, not now, Percy Jackson." She chastised him, even though she got a little carried away herself too. "I'm the boss," in addition to her declaration, she planted a kiss on his pouted lips, "for now." She finished as a smile spread across her face, to cover up the other thoughts that were racing through her mind.

"Now get out of the car." She shooed him playfully as he feigned offended.

"Hey, this is my car, for your information, Miss." He opened the door and said before getting out. She stuck out her tongue and did the same.

Tossing the keys from a hand to another, Annabeth walked around the car towards the entrance that wasn't far from their parking place.

"This place is huge." Percy observed, "where is this though?" He mused to himself, but also silently hoping Annabeth would answer him.

Only nodding to acknowledge his presence, she handed the keys to a male and whispered something in his ear. He nodded and then set off to the car with the keys in his hand. Percy decided not to question, since she seemed like she owned this place by the way she was acting, such confidence and pride. He trusted her all along, so he decided to do it one last time.

They continued to walk down a long hallway that seemed to not have an end. There were several turning points, but she never took any turns. Reaching into her pocket where she conjured her card, she took out an earpiece and stuffed it into her ears. Ever since getting out of the car, everything about her had changed. She had not only ignored Percy, but had also acted more professional and in a more domineering way. He wondered why.

"Castellan." She said into the earpiece, while taking out her phone to check for the signals and the connections.

"Copy, boss." Came the reply from the person she summoned.

"Location." The one word demand made Percy feel like everything around him appeared to be like he was in the FBI or CIA archive, following an agent around. He wasn't aware of the conversion, until she took a sharp turn into an empty room that had the same level of quietness as the building. "Copy." He heard the blonde said as she locked the door behind him.

"Clear your pocket, Percy." She told him. He was relieved that she was still calling his first name, at least this was a part that was still normal. "I need you to walk through that tunnel for me, please." She instructed in a professional voice, but not a monotone like most instructors in the field. He obeyed; stepping into the dark hallway that seemed to be a few meters long. Reaching to the other end, he finally saw light again after submerged in the dark. Looking satisfied, Annabeth nodded, gesturing him to follow her. "Remember your locker number, it will be where your belongings are." She said as she pointed to the roman numeral written at the corner of the metal box. He nodded, once again, confused of what was happening. "Let's go then." She said half-heartedly.

He followed her closely, trailing behind her like a lost puppy. Annabeth constantly turned around to glance at him, but he didn't know the purpose of it. After a long walk down the identical hallways, turning in all directions that he could think of and lost in the maze already, they came to a stop. In front of them was a huge metallic drop-down door, like the ones in prison. Annabeth went to a machine next to the gate, the room dimmed as a stream of red-light came through the device, scanning her orbs then her face, then to her whole body. Finally, asking for a pin and then a fingerprint, the gate lifted. The environment was entirely different from both sides of the gate. It was obvious to him once walked through it.

The metallic door shut behind them with a soft, cushioned thud, but he still jumped nevertheless. When he quickly recovered from the shock made by the door, he saw a small smile dancing on her lips, so small that he almost thought he had imagined it, but it was soon proven to be real, because it turned to a chuckle then to a laugh.

"Was this another test of yours?" He asked, despite slightly annoyed at all the stuff she made him went through only to make him feel stupid and embarrassed. Her laughter ceased, shaking her head, she gestured him to follow her, again.

"Where are we going? Where is this place? What is it?" He spat out all the questions that he could possibly conjure in his gut like vomit, sprawling over her on her face.

"Your question will soon be answered. Every single one of them." She said. They've reached an empty working office desk with two chairs across each other. "Please, take a seat." She gestured to the chair that looked somewhat comfy. "Would you like anything?" She asked, walking to the mini bar that he hadn't take notice of until now.

"Actually, no, but thank you." He just wanted her to get to the topic and stop prolonging his misery, it was agonizing.

Annabeth nodded in respond to his reply and poured herself a glass of beverage. Walking back to him and taking the unoccupied seat across from him, she took a sip of the liquid and placed the glass on the table in front of her. All this time, she had her eyes glued to him like she'd never done before. It was creeping him out.

"I do apologize for causing your inconvenience, Mr Jackson." She started, placing her laced hands on the table in front of her. No matter how business-like she just sounded, the smile on her face gave everything away. "I brought you here today," she stood up from the chair and started to pace around the room with her arms in front of her chest, "with only one soul purpose." She paused, so did her pacing, as she turned to gaze at her client. "And that is to hand you a torch so you can find your way out of the darkness that had been purposely engulfing you." She started to pace again, her eyes landed on every object in the room, but just not on her client. It was a strategy. "I will try my best to keep everything simple, but you need to know that nothing here isn't complicated, and you will find difficulties and challenges on your way out of the dark, even with the strongest torch we can provide you." This was carried out much better than the ones that she had rehearsed in mind, perhaps she was more suitable for improvising than rehearsed drama? Although the respond she was getting was not what she'd expected, but at least the protocol was better than planned.

"So, in order to provide you the best torch I can get in my power, we shall start here." She stopped, pointing at the ground that she was stomping on and locked her eyes with Percy's. "This," she continued without giving him a chance to react, "is my office, the very heart of this organization and this building; also the safest place on Earth, for me." She added, just to clarify. He nodded, all the new information that he had been fed with was too much for him to register, there was no way that he could think of a question because the information was cramming his brain system, he couldn't think, let along come up with a quality inquiry.

"You want to know what I do, so I'm answering your question now." She walked to the desk that he was sitting next to and pulled open a drawer, taking out a stack of documents that had been nearly piled together, tidied in some order that she had wanted. "These are a small portion of the classified files that I've got, they're on international trade." Putting them back in and taking out another pile that was identical to the last. "These, are a small portion of the classified files that include every most recent report on our targets around the world." Repeating her previous actions, she started to introduce the third pile of documents. "The cases that we're associated with." She said and placed the last pile on the table.

They looked slightly different than the previous three, it seemed to be smaller in size or thinner in weight, but he couldn't really tell. "This is the collection of my very own investigations. Keeping track of my experiments and events that I should take notice of." She flipped through the pages quickly for him to have a scan. It wasn't making much difference to him. "So, that's what I do. I control the illegal trade across country and around the globe, because I am the single largest market in the world." She concluded proudly.

Percy gaped at her, not sure what to make of it. He knew it was only the start, so he wasn't sure if he could handle the rest.

"Hold your tongue, young man." She stopped him from saying a single word. "You get to decide and judge after the tour." She smiled, even that smile seemed distant and indecipherable. "Don't worry, it won't be long, because I am not going to show you everything in HQ, you're only going to know about the stuff that's related to you. My office is just a bonus for you, due to personal reasons." She winked at him when she said the reasons were personal, this made him relax a little, knowing that she hadn't completely ditched him.

"Let's go to our next destination shall we?" She held out her hand for him to hold, in which he accepted it gracefully. Leading him out through another door, he found himself facing a laboratory. "Welcome to my lab." She announced, gesturing to the grand room with her free hand and holding on to his with the other. She beamed at him when she saw him starting to observe, it was obviously a genuine expression, something from the heart.

"What do you do here?"

"All sorts of things." She shrugged, clinging on to his arm in an affectionate way, making his heart soar. This woman had always had ways to make him melt in the inside when she wanted to and when he most needed, he was more than impressed with her. "The list can go on forever."

"Is this, HQ, where you spend your day while I'm gone?" He asked out of the blue, but it was probably time for him to figure out. She nodded, not sure what else to add to it. "Do you spy on me or what? Because you're always home earlier than I am." He continued to voice his thoughts.

"Coincidence?" She suggested, immediately regretting the choice of word, because it was probably the lamest joke she had ever heard, let along made. "Sorry," she apologized sheepishly, "I do keep an eye on you and out for you." She admitted right after the apology.

He nodded, but said nothing.

Heading out, she led him to their next destination, somewhere with a little more civilization, or maybe, human activities.

"Castellan." She said into space, it took him a while to remember that she had an earpiece.

"Yes, boss."

"All clear?"

"Not yet, boss."

"How long do you still need?"

"Uncertain, boss."

"Useless son of a bitch." She muttered under her breath, hating the procrastinating habit of Luke's.

"I'm sorry, boss." She heard him murmur guiltily. "I'll inform you as soon as I'm done."

"Copy." She answered before pushing through a door that led them to a conference room.

"Percy, here's the background, take a seat as I explain."

Percy did what he was told and took a seat. Annabeth, on the other hand, walked to the projector and turned it on. On the big screen in front of them, showed a picture of two people.

"Athena and Fredrick." Annabeth introduced, not wasting another minute.

"Your parents." Percy said to no one in particular.

"Yes." She nodded. "What do you know about them, apart from the stories that I've told you?"

"They're criminals. Your mom's a drug dealer and your dad's a serial killer." He replied instantly.

"Very well." She nodded, again. "That's really all you need to know for you to understand this story." She said as she turned her full attention back on to him. "My parents died before my birthday, but how long exactly?" She asked him, trying to keep him focused and following.

"I don't know." He shrugged, finding it unimportant.

"A week."

"Okay." He nodded, waiting for to continue.

"Ten days before my birthday, they showed up at your old apartment, demanding you to grant them permission to access your safe, do you know why?" She made sure to keep her sentences short in order for him to understand better.

He shook his head to her question.

"I've told you briefly about this before." She patted his arm in an attempt to sooth him. "They were trying to scapegoat you."

"Why?"

"My parents are smart. They would never just die without stirring up something big while maintaining their legacy." She explained. "Even their deaths were planned." His eyes bulged out in shock, but she continued, not wanting to be interrupted when she didn't want to be. "Your brother, Triton is the trigger to the action of the scheme." She started. "Like I've said before, he's one of my mother's biggest customer, but he had low credibility, so my dad had to hunt him down in order for him to pay his debt."

"Yes, you've told me that he was murdered by your father." He remembered.

"But he never actually paid his debt." She shrugged, carrying on with her story. "So did you think they just let your brother slip? Hell no. They've pinned the debt on his family, and you're the unlucky bastard that got chosen to act as the bait, then as the victim, in the end, the scapegoat."

"What do you mean?"

"What's your favorite public pseudonym?"

"Riptide."

"And the symbol?"

"The one you tattooed on your shoulder blade."

"Correct."

"Why did you do that by the way?"

"To prove my devotion."

That answer silenced him. She didn't expect herself to just say it either, but it just slipped out.

"Exactly I thought." She said, going back to the previous topic. "What's the name of the ultimate poison that I've told you about?"

"Riptide?" He was unsure of where this was going and what she was referring to.

"Yes." She nodded in confirmation. "And remember I come clean to you a long time ago telling you that I lied to you in jail when I told you I've no idea about what's in the bottle you gave me?" He nodded. "That's Riptide. The last bottle from my parents."

"That's the poison that killed Triton."

"Also the poison that killed themselves."

"Can't you see it? They've even used the same method." Seeing Percy's confused face, she resisted the urge to roll her eyes. "Retell the story that I've told you about Triton's crime scene."

"There's a glass, with the word 'riptide' written at the bottom. Oh…" Realization struck him as he put the pieces together.

"Exactly, my parents' crime scene was the same as his, but no one made the connection surprisingly." Percy was still in awe at the discovery. "The purpose of calling the poison Riptide, leaving the name on the glass, hiding the gin bottle containing the liquid in your safe. The purpose of all that was to make you take the blame, make you become a suspect and to then scapegoat you. It was one of their ways to make their victim's family suffer and then to get the money that they've indebted."

Percy stared at her in utter horror. "But, why didn't anyone come find me?"

"Because the police were too stupid to connect the dots. I've told you this, they closed the case because they couldn't associate the name Riptide with you. That's also why I called you a lucky bastard."

"Is that why you didn't tell me and kept me in the dark?"

"Partially, yes." Annabeth nodded.

"What's the other part?"


	13. XIII

**The story's almost finished, hope you all had a great time reading it.**

 **Enjoy this chapter too.**

* * *

Annabeth was never good with people, but it wasn't because she didn't try, the external reasons for the phenomena was probably more significant than the internal issues.

It wasn't a secret to anyone in jail that she would take anyone that she fancied under her wings, thus, it was also not a secret that Bianca was someone that caught her eyes, so did Piper.

Of all the female in the prison cell, Annabeth was able to rise to the leading position few days after she got in, and was able to secure the position for the ten years that she'd served in cell. Out of every inmates, Bianca and Piper were the only two that had gotten close to her. This sparked up jealousy among some inmates, but no one dared to put their jealousy into actions.

Bianca was her sour point, a wound in her heart that would never heal fully, because she would always blame herself for her death. No matter how many people came by to tell her that it wasn't her fault, she'd always think that she was able to prevent it. After all, she had seen it coming ever since Bianca arrived, it wasn't long after her arrival that she discovered the danger that the newbie might face. She remembered swearing to herself that she would do everything she could to prevent it from happening, but it still happened.

The incident solidified her heart quite literally. She was still that kind and good-hearted person inside, but her appearance had changed completely. The vibe that she sent off to strangers was cold, distant and estranged, making people wanting to avoid her at all costs. She had been quiet while remaining her powerful position for a long time until Piper came. Between Piper and Bianca, her change had attracted the attention of the guards. Her prideful attitude had been the source of attraction initially when she first got in, but it was this change that had triggered the guards to start pursuing her physically. She would disappear and come back some other day, in a different cloth and looking cleaner, but still acting the same. It could only suggest that she wasn't raped, still, she never enjoyed them either.

"Are you okay?" A voice broke her train of thoughts, or more like her intense reflection to her old life in prison.

"Huh? What?" Her eyes snapped up to the speaker.

"I asked, are you okay?" Percy repeated his concerns, that was when she could finally recognize the speaker and remember where she was. Shaking her head, she silently scolded herself, but gave no response to his question. He took her slight shake of head as a dismissal, so he turned away. "Where are we going?" He asked, an obvious question as they were still walking.

"To meet someone."

"But you haven't tell me the other reason that you kept me in the dark for so long." He reminded.

"Uh… Yes." She remembered herself drifting into her memories of Bianca when she brought it up. The memory was so vivid that she thought she had recalled it to him already. "I am fully aware of that." She muttered, trying to hide away her embarrassment for her little miscalculation of the situation, nothing was going as she planned and she wasn't in her best state of mind either.

"Okay… So, who are we meeting?" He ignored her odd behavior, her odd responses and everything odd about her, trying to focus on the mission that they were on.

"Someone you are very familiar with." Was the only sentence she could say before a hand clasped around her mouth from behind her. Her instincts kicked in, she raised a hand to the hand that was on her mouth and lifted the other elbow ready to attack her attacker's weak spot, but she stopped realizing something. The pause was obviously sensed by the attacker, because the man in mask laughed and unclasped her.

"Castellan." She scolded the man in mask, pinning him on the wall behind him.

"Took you long enough." The guy took off his mask lazily, a victorious smirk casted on his face.

Annabeth rolled her eyes and tightened her hold around his neck, her grasp was near choking, his hand was lifted to grab onto her wrist.

"Percy." He mouthed, the lack of air was already making him hard to breath, let alone make a sound.

"What about him?"

He gaped, but nothing was able to come out, all he could do was to point at the frightened figure behind her with one of his hands.

"Oh." Annabeth understood the message immediately. "Shit." She looked down at her feet and reluctantly, released her grasp around his neck.

Percy looked up when he heard her call. He was expecting to see Luke on the ground catching his breath, but instead, he was nowhere to be seen.

As much of an extraordinary actor as his reputation held him, his fear of her could no longer be masked. His face was pale, there was not even a tint of red on his neck. He looked lifeless. To a point that Annabeth preferred him dead rather than in this state of shock.

"Percy." She called and tried to reach out to him, but he took a step back away from her. The rejection slapped her loud across the cheek. She had never felt so vulnerable in front of a man before. Her reaction towards the rejection was brand new to her and it shocked her just as much as her actions shocked him, but at this moment, she couldn't decide which shock was more influential.

"Do you want to leave?" She asked dejectedly, understanding that he might want to leave her.

To her, what had happened was just a phase of play between her and Luke, it was more than common; they started it since they met in high school, it was sort of a tradition between them. It seemed so monstrous and violent in front of others, and she could understand, because she had once seen it recorded on a surveillance camera. Annabeth and Luke had always took it as a hard-core training that they had to endure in order to be a part of a mob gang that would be taking part in the dangerous, risky black market.

Much to her surprise, Percy shook his head, but his eyes still showed the distrust he started to felt towards her.

"Okay." She whispered, unprepared for the answer. "Do you want to meet Nico?" Under different circumstances, she would've kept her information as vague as possible until her victim was at the destination she assigned, but this man in front of her had changed her bit by bit that she didn't even have the ability to cease the change.

"What?" His shock came out as a question. The mention of the name of his manager, best friend and cousin surprised him not just a little bit, but beyond his imagination. "Say that again?" He must've misheard. Never would he thought of Nico, of all people, involved in a highly illegal organization like this.

"Do you want to meet Nico?" Confidence drained from her question as she repeated it, it was unusual for her, but right now, her mind wasn't on her behavior, but on what had happened that led to his behavior. She was self-reflecting.

"Nico?" He still couldn't believe his ears. His eyes narrowed, and she could feel the uncertainty even with her eyes casted away from him. It hurt to know that he no longer trusted her fully. It made her thought of all the stuff that he had told her, everything that he said to her; telling her that he trusted her with his life. She knew he was doubting it now, yet she was helpless.

Annabeth could only nod, she didn't know if her honest confirmation was easing the situation or making it worse.

"Nico?" He repeated, as if she didn't understand his question correctly.

"Yes, Nico. Nico Di'Angelo." She finally looked back up. Expecting an answer from him, she saw a flash of panic across his eyes as they focused on something behind her.

She turned back, following his gaze, she saw a silhouette approaching them from afar. From just the way the person walks, she was able to make out their identity.

"Stay with Nico." Her command came out strong and powerfully, it was sent all the way to him down the narrow hallway. Her voice was determined and full of authority, it wasn't anything like the tone that she had just used with Percy. "And, Luke, I don't want to see you behind me." She added with a glowering glare. The person didn't even look up before he turned his back and walked in the direction that he came from.

"I'm sorry." She apologized, not knowing for whom or why, but feeling the need as a comfort for him. "Please, just say something, Percy." She whispered helplessly, taking an unconscious step closer to him.

Percy's head was still in the direction of where Luke was, she knew he was worried, especially after the rather violent scene earlier. He was silent this whole time, and it was worrying her more than it was concerning him. She didn't know she could be emotionally involved with a person before, but the way he was behaving — knowing that she was the reason for it – was making her nervous and uncomfortable, and somewhat guilty.

"Let's go then." The quiet decision came out with a sigh from him, she almost didn't catch it. It took a while of staring at her to make her realize that he had said that and she didn't imagine it. Nodding silently, she obeyed his decision and led the way to Nico.

On their way there, she sent out a message in Morse to Luke.

 _You scared him. Arriving._

She tapped, keeping her hand on the far side of him and the transmitter in her hand sending the signal. Listening intently into her earpiece, staying beside him and hiding what she was doing, she knew they were nearing and only hoped that he had gotten the message before they arrived. For some reason, she thought, letting Percy see her sending out signals would be worrying him more than he already was, so she hid it from him, despite being another stupid decision.

"Here."

They were face-to-face with a metallic door that was a quarter of the size of the door that led to her office. It was a normal sized door but, with all the doors that he'd seen so far, a door this small was considered abnormal in HQ.

Annabeth lifted her thumb and was about to place it on the machine when she dropped it. Raising her other arm, she knocked on the door, it was another Morse, but no one would know apart from Luke.

"Why didn't you just enter?" The door opened, revealing two people in the room. Luke, behind the door asking the question and Nico, sitting in a comfortable chair in the well-lit bright room.

"Does it matter?" She said, but her eyes glared at him, sending a different meaning to what she said.

In truth, she couldn't enter with her fingerprint, because she had recently spilled acid on her thumb, it would take her a while to recover. Not wanting to explain more that would lead to the revelation of her darkest secret and also wanting to make sure the people behind the door were aware of her presence, it was best to just knock. Password was another thing. She'd never preferred it, too lazy to change it every so often and too easy to leave a print, she was always a fan of scanners and machines that would recognize her features.

"Percy!" Nico jumped up to hug his friend like they've missed each other's entire life.

"What are you doing here?" Percy asked, pulling away from the hug. His emotions had been tangled and he didn't know what to feel, so he settled with the question that seemed neutral.

"I got kidnapped." He shrugged as if it were no big deal.

"Have you hypnotized him?" Annabeth walked closer to Luke and leaned into his side, whispering in his ear as her eyebrows scrunched up, still observing the reunion of the two friends.

Luke shook his head, but his eyes never left the two either. "Not yet." He murmured his response, his lips barely moving.

"Good." She grunted.

"Why?" This time, he turned to face her, but she couldn't afford taking her eyes off them.

"I'm doing it this time."

"What?" Luke gave her an incredulous look. They had hired two of the world-class hypnotists, paid them a generously amount, just to avoid Annabeth having to risk herself being exposed to random strangers too much.

Annabeth did nothing in regard to his look, she wasn't going to make a comment to it.

"You can't do that, Annabeth."

"I am fully capable of hypnotizing a single male." She hissed through her gritted teeth, she appeared to be offended by his outbreak, but she didn't want to attract attention from the two that were catching up in their own bubble.

"I'm not questioning your skill, I'm worried about your identity. We spend a third of our revenue on the two hypnotists for a reason, Annabeth." He kept his voice low, but the accusing tone that was laced in her name had caught Percy's ears to perk up.

"I'm not fucking stupid." She glared at him fiercely. Percy flinched under her glare, it wasn't even directed at him, but the look in her eyes told him that she was thoroughly offended. His conversation stopped with Nico, and Annabeth just noticed it when she noticed his movement behind Luke. Her eyes moved away from Luke and fixed on Percy's, locking with his. A look that she couldn't decipher held in his eyes, they soon turned into hate and fury when Luke turned to face him.

"Can someone tell me why I'm here?" Nico declared from the side, dissolving the tension instantly. All three eyes casted on him.

Luke and Percy quickly looked at Annabeth who had seen the gesture coming.

"Take a seat Nico." She instructed politely, motioning the chair that he was on when she stepped in.

Nico snarled at her but obeyed. She leaned against the desk that Luke was occupying earlier.

"Tell me, why do you hate me so much?" She asked nicely, ignoring the confused look on Percy's face and the eye roll from Luke.

Nico glanced at the two males and then back at Annabeth, his lips sealed tight.

"Okay. Fine. You can tell me later." She shrugged nonchalantly, still the same patient attitude. "This is not an inquiry session, just so you know, Nico." She informed. "I just want you to explain to your friend here," she gestured to Percy, "why did you go to the police and dug up my parents' suicide case?"

An audible gasp was heard from Percy's direction and a raised eyebrow from Luke, but she paid attention to neither, she kept her eyes fixed on him, Nico.

"You did that?" Percy whispered in disbelieve.

"Is this some kind of set up that you've planned to completely have Percy on your own?" Nico narrowed his eyes at Annabeth, an accusing tone clearly contained in his expression and in his words.

"You tell me." Luke came into her defense, stepping in to the conversation, not liking someone doubting her actions.

"I'm not asking you, Mr Castellan." He held his head high, not even sparing a glance at Luke. "I'm _asking you_ , Miss Chase." He fixed his eyes on her, narrowing it on her gray orbs that were turning darker and cooler.

Annabeth rolled her eyes, not finding the need to reply to Nico's inquiry. It wasn't a question to her, at least, she wouldn't take it as one.

"Answer me." He demanded. Luke furrowed his eyebrows, glaring at the speaker, but Annabeth stopped him before he could intervene.

"Luke." She warned, giving him a look at the same time; he retreated. "Nico, tell me about the version that you know about your sister's death." Annabeth remained calm and apathetic, her tone sounded indifferent yet she was actually very interested in what he was going to say.

Percy's breath hitched, anything related to his deceased sister had always been a sore spot for Nico. He looked at the pale boy and then glanced back at Annabeth's impassive face. Then, his eyes landed briefly on Luke, but got no reaction from him, so his eyes returned to his friend in the end.

"Annabeth, why are you doing this?" He asked, trying to help Nico out of his misery.

"To make me suffer, because she hates me just as much as I hate her!" Nico spat. Percy wasn't the only one taken aback by the outburst, so did Annabeth and Luke, though the latter didn't plaster any emotion on their void face.

"Now that's all I need." Annabeth suppressed a smirk that was surfacing. "You're declaration of your hatred towards me." She elaborated for Percy to understand what she was talking about. "As a matter of fact, Nico, I don't hate you."

"Then why are you making me remember everything?" He glared at her through silent tears that were threatening to pour out.

Annabeth only smiled.

"Say it, Chase." He demanded, shooting up from his seat and stomped towards Annabeth, he would've just threw a punch at her face if it wasn't for Luke's quick decision to pin him back down.

"Good reflex, Castellan." Annabeth mused, complimenting in the most ironic way possible. Luke rolled his eyes, not taking the offense. "Just thought you should know, Nico, your doing is endangering your dear friend over there." She referred back to his question, pointing at Percy when she said 'dear friend', indicating his identity to him.

"What?" Nico's dumbfounded face was nearly laughable, and she would laugh if it wasn't for the presence of her boyfriend. Out of the corner of her eyes, she could see Luke trying to keep a straight face.

"Athena and Fredrick's mysterious case can be easily solved, but I'm not going to tell you how. You dug it up because you thought you can pin me back in jail again with my parents' sins in relation to that last case. I must say, I'm impressed that you can make the connections, because you've almost put me back." She pushed herself off the counter that she was leaning on, folding her arms in front of her chest, she neared him and started to pace in front of him as she continued to connect the dots for him. "You're smart enough to know that their case will be associated with many others, why didn't you think that it will be associated with Triton's? Or have you simply ignored it because it's too insignificant?" This time, Annabeth allowed that evil smirk to surface, she directed at Nico.

"Maniacs." Nico muttered under his breath when he saw the smirk from her and the smile from Luke.

"Say what?" Luke stepped forward in a menacing tone.

"Luke, let it go." Annabeth chastised him gently, the power so obvious in it. Placing a hand on his shoulder, she pushed him away slowly. "Do you not believe a word I've said?" She asked, feigned surprise.

"How can they be fucking related?" He raised his arms, his face told her that what she suggested was outrageous.

"How? I'll tell you how." She kept her tone intact and calm. She was progressing in a painfully slow speed, it was almost torturing. Her every move and her every speech just seemed to slow the time down. "Here's how?" She started, leaning down to look at him in the eyes. "My parents' killed Triton and had pinned it on Percy," she whispered in his face, "with the same intention, they committed suicide." Then she straightened her back, her eyes still not leaving his skull, waiting for him to look up and to see his reaction. When he finally did, she said in a slightly louder voice. "It's all on Percy." She concluded in a dangerously deep tone, additional effect added with her rough, croaky and hoarse voice. He shivered, the sensation that he was getting from hearing her voice and looking into her eyes wasn't at all pleasant, it was a feeling that he prayed he would never have to deal with again in his life.

"You killed my sister." He stood up from his spot, standing face-to-face with her, bellowing in her face, his saliva splashing on her dampening her cheeks. She stood her ground and made no attempt to step back.

"If that's what you think, then it's what you'll believe."

She shrugged and made her point. There were no emotions on her face and no emotion in her words.

"Did you really do that? Annabeth." Percy's question came from the side, ringing in her brain sounding distanced. For a moment, she thought the voice was just the representation of the other part of her, but the look that he was giving her made her look away from Nico.

"No." She answered, mustering up all her confidence. If she didn't reply in that instant, she might just give out and started to blame herself all over again, then Nico would get ahold of her. "No, I did not."

"You promised me that you'd keep her safe." Nico's fist clenched tighter at his sides, Annabeth was well aware of the action and she knew he may strike at any moment, so she took a step back, keeping a safe distance between them.

"I still remember my vow. I don't deny the fact." She stated calmly.

"I was told not to believe any words said before a 'but'."

"There's no 'but'." She would've made a cruel joke out of that sentence, but the condition just didn't seem right, so she bit back that thought and sticked to the serious factors. "I did make a promise and I did intend to keep it, it's not my fault that I'm not the master of the universe. I don't control everyone, Nico."

"You might as well do." He muttered. "You took her from me."

"I'm sorry." She apologized, trying to sound as sincere as possible, though she didn't know what it was like to feel genuine, because she wasn't feeling anything.

"No, you're not." Nico spat, walking up to her, stepping closer. Sensing something that would be coming out of his mouth in any second, she looked down, trying to think of an escape plan.

"Can you two please give us a moment?" She motioned to Percy and Luke who were staring at her in wide eyes. The request itself wasn't weird, but the way it came out and the circumstances that it came out under was making it appear to be stranger. The two guys walked out of the door and closed it behind.

"You're a psychopath!" He pointed a finger at her the moment the door made a click sound. "I should've said it earlier so your little minion and your boyfriend can also hear it, at least they deserve to know how you manipulated them into your palms, how you've wrapped them around your fingers and how good of an actress you are. You know what?" He paused, catching his breath. "You deserve an Oscar better than anyone in Hollywood. You're by far the best actor I've ever met. That's why I won't blame myself when I trusted my sister's life with you."

He panted after all the yelling, feeling the adrenaline rush.

"I wouldn't call myself a psychopath." She said calmly once he was done shouting. Leaning back on to the counter that she was on earlier, she kept her eyes fixed on him, eyeing his every move with an amused expression. "Although commonly speaking, I am, but professionally, I'm an antisocial personality disorder patient."

"So you knew it." His utter surprise made her want to laugh, and she did, since there was nothing to hide.

"All the time. I discovered it myself from a brain scan, how ironic." She explained, shrugging while she felt panic and fear starting to take over Nico's angry self. "Not everyone with ASPD is a violent villain, Nico." As much as she enjoyed seeing his emotions went in a roller-coaster form, she wanted to get rid of him fast at the same time.

"But you certainly are." His voice was shaking with fear as he tried to use venom to cover it up. It wasn't working.

"Maybe." She shrugged, "and I'm a lot more, but, you'll never know." She smiled meaningfully and wickedly at him.

The next thing he knew was the dynamic change of the room.

Then… He felt sleepy and relaxed...

¢.¢

"So, what do you say, Jackson?" Once Annabeth got rid of Nico with a wiped out memory, she reached to the place that Luke had told her they were in immediately. Of course, after making sure that Nico was escorted out with security safely. "Fight or flight?" She could hear his taunting voice even from her earpiece. Rolling her eyes, she placed her hand on the machine and wait for it to recognize her fingerprint. The door unlocked with a disappearing light, she pushed it open soundlessly, making sure that no one noticed her. For some reason, she wanted to eavesdrop.

"I don't know." He sighed. He picked up the glass that contained what looked to her like whiskey and downed it in one gulp. He must've been really shaken up today, she thought to herself. The thought wasn't as satisfying as she thought it would be.

Maybe, just maybe, she had found a cure for her disease.

"Why don't you let her help you decide?" Luke stared at Annabeth, getting her attention. Percy's back was still faced towards the door, whereas Luke was facing it. She saw him looking past Percy to look at the door, or more precisely, at her.

"Decide what?" She asked the two as Percy turned around in his chair to face her. He looked exhausted and just about to faint if he could just lay down with a pillow under his head.

"Fight or flight." He repeated what Luke had just said.

"And what is that supposed to mean?" For the first time, she feared that she was right. The question came out of her tentatively, her eyes darting from one to another. "What are you two talking about when I'm gone?" She asked, the more time they stalled, the more nervous she would get. The door knob was slipping due to the sweat coming from her palm.

Percy glanced at Luke and then in the general direction of the exit, Luke took the hint as his cue to leave, so he stood up, excusing himself out of courtesy, in spite the fact that no one really cared.

"Do you have faith in me?" Percy asked her once Luke was out of the door with it closed behind him.

She nodded, taking a seat on the chair across him, the place that Luke occupied moments ago.

"Do you have faith in us?"

She repeated the same gesture.

"Are you willing to give me time for you to regain my trust fully?"

Annabeth froze on her spot, it was something that she had dreaded, him not trusting her.

"Annabeth, I want to say that I still trust you, and part of me still do, but you've really scared me through the course of the recent couple of days." He sighed, playing with the empty glass in his hand in front of him.

She stared at him in horror, she knew the answer would be a no, she knew herself well. That was why she didn't want to hurt him intentionally.

"I'm going to be completely honest with you here, Annabeth." He continued. "I will be haunted by your actions."

"Percy," she stopped him from continuing, she couldn't bear it anymore. There she thought she had finally found a cure for her illness, and now she didn't know whether she should be selfish or self-less. "You're looking at me differently now are you? I haven't even tell you the darkest parts of me and you're already not looking at me the same." She whispered, not knowing where all the emotions came from. "But," she looked away, unable to bear the hurt that was showing in his eyes. She wasn't able to finish her sentence.

"Don't, please don't think like that. Stop putting words in my mouth, Annabeth, please, I'm begging you." He pleaded with a desperate voice. "I didn't see you any differently than I've always had."

"I'm a psychopath, Percy." She blurted out, surprising herself with the confession.

Percy was silenced. She thought this might be the end of their relationship, so if she had already told him one, she might as well just tell him everything, because he might be the only person that stood a chance in saving her. It was rare for an ASPD patient to find a suitable therapist, it was even rarer for someone like her to think that they were saved.

"But you told me you weren't." He cocked his head, his eyes clouded with confusion.

"Yes, I told you I'm not a sociopath." This stirred up more confusion in him than the previous declaration.

"You said you've got no personality disorder whatsoever."

"Correct, and that was an impulsive lie. I apologize for it." She bowed her head. "As a psychopath, I've become familiar with masking my identity." She explained, her eyes never leaving his face, watching his reactions closely. When she got no big reactions from him, she continued. "Percy, sociopaths and psychopaths are two very different concepts. They might appear to be similar in multiple ways and to outsiders, but they are in fact, quite different." She said.

"How?" He asked, taking a deep breath and composing himself, awaiting for her answer to his question. He had already made up his mind, and there was very little choices for him to choose from. There she thought she was done explaining and could avoid telling him everything altogether, but his question forced her to go into the medical and scientific explanations that she had been studying and researching all life long.

"First off, they have very different behaviors. Generally, psychopaths are portrayed as villains in movies and shows because they appear to be calmer when they see violence and blood. Their brain structures are different from those that are considered normal, hence their behavioral differences." She watched his eyes go wide at the input of knowledge that he had never heard of. "Not every psychopaths are dangerous, Percy." She concluded, feeling like it was enough for him to understand and not be scared of her. The scientific explanation may be better than describing their actions.

When she quieted down, the room was filled with silence. Percy stared at her with an emotion that she couldn't understand and couldn't decipher. She stared back at him, waiting for his response. She didn't know what to do or what to think, she couldn't even hold his eyes for long.

"I've figured as much." His comment came out of the blue, Annabeth had almost blurted out all of her other secrets, but this confession from him made her chicken out.

She could only gape at him and his emotionless face.

"You knew?"

"I didn't."

Annabeth looked down. She had, after all, failed to mask her natural disposition due to the illness.

"There's more you need to know about me, Percy." She said before she could stop herself.

He looked up. "I'd rather not hear it." The hurt in Annabeth's expression had stung more than a slap across his face, he knew the sentence had came out wrong. "I didn't mean it like that." He tried to justify it frantically. "I just thought," he continued to try to explain, "if it's not something that will bother me, then I don't find it necessary to be informed. I know you don't want to tell me."

"But I do. I do want you to know, I'm just afraid of your reaction."

"My rejection."

"Yes, your rejection." She muttered, correcting herself after him.

"You have already prepared for the worst, Annabeth, and what could be worse than being an ASPD patient? I've accepted you for you, and I will accept whoever you are, because that's you."

"No, Percy, you won't accept me as a masochist." She stopped him immediately as the promising sentence came out of his mouth. She hated to disappoint him, but it was for his own good.

"You're a what?" He choked, it was something that she had somewhat expected to see; it didn't make her feel any better.

"I get off on inflicting pain on myself, not sexually of course. That's why I do experiments on myself." She opened up, and while she was at it, she thought she should just spill the beans. "I also like to see other people getting tortured and suffering in every way possible, but I'm not a sadist, I don't do that to people, I only like to see when others do it to them."

"I get the last part."

"How can you possibly understand…?" She stuttered.

"One of the ASPD symptoms." He stated as a matter of fact. "I do know a little, very little, bit about the illness that you have." He explained. "As to your former predilection, I'll see what we can do with it as time goes on."

Annabeth commented lightly when she realized that Percy had came to an understanding of the situation, at least he was starting to accept reality.

"Takes one to know one, right?"


	14. XIX: The Story of Us

**I hope there'll be no confusion after this chapter because this is the last one. If you have any questions, please ask and I will reply to it.**

 **Read the author's note at the very bottom, it might concern you.**

* * *

 **The Story of Us**

Percy was woken up suddenly by the odd smell in the air, it smelled like smoke, when he was more awaken, he sniffed the air, it was some kind of tobacco or perhaps cigar, but he wasn't sure, he wasn't that experienced with drugs. Turning on to his back, he looked at his side, the other side of the bed was unoccupied. Sitting up, suddenly panic rushed through him.

Slipping on his bath robe and a pair of slippers, he made his way down stairs quietly. A sense of deja vu washed through him, he remembered the last time he walked down those stairs in the exact same state of mind, even the time was somewhat similar. It was two last time, this time, it was one. Same difference. Though, the last time he discovered the absence of his girlfriend next to him, he had found her in the kitchen with the lights on, but this time, when he reached the bottom of the stairs, everything was dark. He was standing in the middle of his living room in pitch black. Standing still, he could feel a movement around him, someone was moving, but he couldn't see the figure in the darkness.

Walking to the light switch, he was about to flick the lights on when he saw a dim orange light coming from the kitchen, it was moving. He removed his hand from the light switch in the living room and walked towards the kitchen. His eyes fixed on the dim red light, afraid that it would disappear any time. As he got closer to the light source, the smell of the smoke was getting stronger and stronger. Too strong that he could no longer identify the smell.

"Annabeth?" He found his voice, coming out cautious and small has he felt his way to the kitchen table.

There was no respond to his tentative questions. Instead, he saw the light moving towards the table and a speck of it dropped into the bowl beneath it. For a moment he feared that the person was not Annabeth. The longer she prolonged for not giving an answer, the more anxious he became. Striking up to the light switch for the kitchen, he flicked the lights on, this time without hesitation.

When he turned back, he recognized the person immediately, it was Annabeth, but everything seemed off with her. She flinched when the light was turned on, but there were no other movements. She looked stiff.

Her hands brought the burning stick to her mouth once again, her eyes stared at the wall in front of her blankly. They were hollow. Nothing on her, apart from that one hand with the stick, was moving. She didn't even blink when the lights were on.

"Hey," Percy walked to stand in front of her, but her eyes didn't move, they seemed to look right pass him as if he was transparent. "Annabeth." He called again, waving a hand in her face trying to make her eyes focus, but it was no use. "Are you smoking weed?" He asked after a thorough examination of the burning stick in her hand.

Without making a sound, she shook her head ever so slightly, but that was the only part of her that moved.

"Is that Riptide?" He gasped, pointing at the glass of liquid next to her hand, resting on the table.

Again, she shook her head using the same amount of energy and generating the same series of movements.

"Are you going back to sleep?" He then asked. He, himself, wasn't the most wide awake, he wasn't sure what kind of answer he wanted to get out of her, not that his brain was functioning in the correct mode either.

For the third time, she shook her head, but this time, she lifted her pair of hollow eyes and directed it at him. When he looked into them, he felt his eyes been sucked out of him and drawn into hers, they were too deep and void, it was hard for him to ever reach the bottom of them.

Sitting down, he decided to observe her for a while, just to make sure that she was alright, knowing that she wasn't going to get normality back to life because to her, it was her normalcy.

"Go back to sleep, Percy." The hoarse in her voice startled him. For too long, she wasn't talking, her voice came out drier and huskier. They were more rough than usual. He looked up to make sure that her lips were the ones that moved to speak the words that he had heard.

"What?" He whispered in disbelieve, there he thought she was half dead.

"You heard me." She said in the same tone of voice.

"Only if you come with me." Assuming that he didn't misheard her, he struck up the stubborn side of himself and crossed his arms in front of his chest.

To his surprise, she put out the stick and downed the gin in her glass and stood up. Extending her hand to him.

"Whatever makes you sleep at night." She muttered as she stared at him expectantly.

He thought there would be a bit of persuasion needed and a little bit of a fight involved if she was unstable, but this gesture had surprised him. Perhaps, after all, he still had a lot to learn about her. It only took him by surprise, shocking him even more than he thought he had been.

"Coming?" She asked, her voice brought him back.

Nodding, he took her hand and allowed her to drag them back to his room, now shared with her.

¢.¢

The next morning, Percy had half expected to see Annabeth next to him, but again, he found himself laying in his huge bed alone with the blanket wrapped around him tightly. Sitting up, he glanced at his nightstand, it said eight in the morning. He was surprised that he could wake up at that hour.

"Morning, Chase." His greeted once he reached the bottom of the stairs, the exact same spot that he was at just merely seven hours ago.

"Hmm." Annabeth hummed a response, telling him that she had heard him, but made no move or indication that she was going to elaborate on her greetings.

Walking to take a better look at her, he opened the cabinet and took out a mug. When he turned around, he saw her stirring a cup of coffee in front of her, it was black and to him it looked just as bitter as her face.

"Hungover much?" He asked, only out of concern and not hinting anything. She nodded and pushed the coffee away from her to him.

"I'd better not drink that then." She muttered dully, still staring at something.

"Huh?" He wasn't understanding any of her behaviors lately, but he had always taken her past experiences and disorder into account, so he had never bothered to ask about it. But the curiosity was eating him. "Annabeth," so he decided to ask, "what happened last night?"

This caused her to look up, thought she said nothing, he got her attention nevertheless.

"Do you want to talk about it?"

"I had a nightmare." She spoke. He had already started to add milk into the warm coffee, thinking that he may not be getting anything from her.

"About?" He encouraged her to carry on.

"Suicide."

He dropped the spoon that he was holding which was about to enter the mug again.

"You committing it or…"

"Me."

The short answers were not what he wanted, but it was what he could get at this time and he'd have to live with it. From all the time that he had spent with her, he had learned that it would be extremely difficult for someone to get something out of her, even it was just a small piece of information that had nothing to do with her.

"I had drank a poison in my dream, and that was apparently too strong for me to bear, so I died." She elaborated, not knowing why she was saying it.

Percy didn't know what to think or how to react to her statement, so he just stayed still and waited for her to continue; and she did.

"I remembered vividly downing it when I thought no one could see me." She continued. "As the poison took effect, I heard people calling my name, and I can see some rushing towards me, but I'm immobilized. I remember trying to reach out or tell them that there's no use, yet something's just pulling me away, I am unable to do anything apart from witnessing everything. I was woken up after I closed my eyes in my dream."

"Was that Riptide? The poison that you drank." He asked quietly.

Annabeth thought for a moment, then shook her head. "It was something new."

"Who gave you that?"

"I don't know, I just remember it being placed on the table, someone telling me that I have to try it."

"Your parents?" He suggested.

"The voice doesn't sound like them." She shook her head, dismissing his idea.

"Someone working for your parents?" He tried again.

"No, I think..." She glanced up at him, hesitating on whether she should tell him her theory or not.

"Yes?" He ushered.

"I think it's me who told myself to drink it. I think it's my invention." She finished her thoughts quietly, looking at his face trying to register his reaction.

"What- are you talking about?" His mind drifted back to the lab the she had showed him when he visited HQ. All the chemicals and bottles on the shelves and on the table flashed in front of him, he tried his best to recognize the substances, but he couldn't read anything. That was one moment when he wished he was a better student in school.

"You've seen my lab, Percy, you know what I am." She sighed, shaking her head. To her, this suicide would be inevitable, she just felt it.

"What do you mean?"

"I've told you that I'm trying to find an antidote for Riptide, and I've found it once, but I've lost the document." She explained, her eyes didn't leave his face as she took in his reaction. "So while I'm trying to find that antidote again, I stumbled upon this new substance that has emerged from one of my multiple experiences, and I think that might be even more dangerous than Riptide. So while I'm trying to find a cure for Riptide, I'm also developing this new poison that kills faster than Riptide and has an even nastier effect on human body."

Percy was again, speechless.

"I'm not yet able to mend it with gin yet, so it's not the colorless or in the color of gin. I'm working on it though." She continued, getting more excited as she got carried away in talking about her new development and inventions. The nightmare completely forgotten, but he still remembered, as he was trying to think back to what exactly happened and analyze her actions. He had slowly become a great expert in ASPD, all because this woman in front of him.

"Oh, I remembered." She exclaimed excitedly suddenly, breaking the silence. "I recalled the color of liquid that I've intake in my dream. It's a beautiful color." She said dreamingly as if it was some pleasant memory to recount. "It's some where along the lines of the color of the pacific ocean, the center of it of course. What is it? Oh, yes, right, it's somewhat similar to the color of your eyes, Percy." She jumped up enthusiastically, grabbed his face and stared in to his eyes, observing the color.

"Are you okay?" He asked, letting her hold him.

"Yes!" She answered. "I'm more than fine. I think I've just found the most beautiful poison in world." She released him and did happy dance in the kitchen. Percy didn't know whether to feel happy for her or to be scared that she might use it on some innocent soul. "Are you not happy for me?" She asked him, dancing towards him, but he moved away.

"Who's in your dream, Annabeth?" He asked, diverting the subject back to what they were talking about earlier.

"Luke." She blurted out. "My grandma." She sat down, as if she was suddenly hit by an emotional memory. "My parents in a distance." She thought through the vivid images in her dream that she could still clearly remember. "That's basically it, I think." She said.

Percy's face fell a little, he had thought maybe, in the list of her loved ones, he would have a spot.

"What were they doing?" He asked. "What were each of them doing?"

"Luke was sitting in front me, just across the table." She recalled.

"But you said no one saw you."

"He didn't know what's in the glass and he didn't see me drinking from it." She shrugged as if it was supposed to be obvious. Percy nodded, accepting the explanation. "He was talking to me about something, and he looked troubled, but I don't remember anything that we've talked about. My mind was occupied with suicidal thoughts at that time already, so I didn't pay any attention to what he was saying." She paused, recalling the events in her dream. "Then there's my grandma. I heard her call when I slid down the chair that I was in. I heard my parents rushing to her, trying to pull her back and tell her that I was alright. I saw my parents smirking at me while they pinned my grandma back down in her seat. It's weird." She concluded. "My grandparents died long time ago, they loved me the most but they died when I was really young. None of them knew what my parents did to me. I loved them, I remember their faces clearly, but now its becoming vague and blurry." She said more to herself than to him, in spite this was supposed to be her informing him. "I think I gave myself the poison because I am just prepared to die, I didn't want to live anymore. Luke was my boyfriend in that dream, so it must've been when I'm still in high school." She deduced, not noticing Percy's pained expression as he wasn't included in any of them, not even represented. "Yes, I didn't dream of you, I'm surprised." She sighed, apparently, she was still conscious of his existence in the room. "Perhaps, that's because you didn't have much of an influence in my early life, maybe you're just not in my life for long enough." She mused. "Nonetheless," she decided, "I think you're more influential to me than any of the people that I've dreamt of."

His head perked up as the compliment rolled off her tongue, he doubt it was a sincere comment, but he took it as a genuine one anyway, knowing it would be hard for her to feel anything sentimental.

"Are all your nightmares like this?" He asked.

¢.¢

 _This time, Annabeth was back in jail; but it wasn't the one that she had served her sentences in, it was a mixed gender prison. She had found herself in a cell with several other inmates that were all male. Looking down, she found herself standing on top of a bunch of loose hay. To her, it looked more like a farm than a prison cell, but she couldn't make any verbal comments apart from just scowling at her surroundings._

 _She didn't know what she was doing, because all she could do was to move her hand to her mouth and take the mouthpiece in between her lips as she inhaled deeply to suck in the small particles that would make her feel better. She felt like she was hiding away from something, but she couldn't make out what. It was a feeling that she'd always get when she was in the middle of sneaking in to some places. When her eyes landed on the other inmates, they were all equipped with the same thing in their hand, a lit thin cigaret. Cheap but common in prison._

 _The feeling made adrenaline enter her blood as it carried it to her brain and muscles. She was excited for what was going to happen next, the only problem was, she didn't know what she was in for and what she was planning to do with the other people. She didn't recognize any of the inmates, and none of them had spoken so far. It was weird, even in a dream._

 _It was dark in the room, the only light that had made the room glow ever so slightly was the lit head of their cigaret in their hand. She didn't take notice of how many people she was with, but she definitely knew that there weren't much in there with her._

 _Just as she was about to move because her legs somehow felt a little numb from the crouching position that she was taking near the corner of the cell. The rumbling of an engine startled her, making her jump up as she fit herself into the corner better, trying to squeeze herself to a size as small as possible._

 _The next thing she knew, her cigaret was gone. That was when she understood why she was in such a rush to finish it off earlier. When she scanned the room, she realized that she was in pitch black and there were no additional sounds apart from the roaring engine coming from outside that seemed to be nearing her location. The cell started to shake, and she could hear everyone's breath hitched audibly. Thinking that she would faint just by all the excitement and nervousness that the situation was putting her under, she felt her heartbeat starting to grow steady, she was starting to calm down. She felt the blood rushing out of her brain and started to flow towards her body._

 _The cell was dark. It was soon lit up again, this time, with a much stronger light source. It came from the cell door. Lit up by the front light of the car that was approaching. A strong thick beam of yellow light shone through the bars and hit the concrete wall across it. Annabeth and the others lined themselves up against the wall adjacent to the cell door, making sure that the light wouldn't hit them. With the light source, she could see some people trying to extinguish their roll using their shaking hand by pressing the head against the wall. None of them were in any condition better than hers._

 _Staring at the dry hay beneath her feet, something in her told her that those would catch fire with a single overheat. She knew it would eventually, it was only a matter of time. Looking around her, she could see that most of the cigarets were put out, there were only one, in the hand of a guy who was already slipping in to unconsciousness, fainting from all the overwhelming pressure that came suddenly without warning. The others stopped paying attention to each other and all stared at the door with their breath hitched. It was only then, she noticed the butt of the roll in the man's hand, it was still lit and burning._

 _Pushing herself off the wall, she didn't know if it was good for her to just expose herself to the light that she didn't even know the meaning off, or to get rid of the potential fire source. As she hesitated, the cigaret butt slipped away from between the man's fingers._

 _"Shit!" She cursed loudly, but no one heard her because she was not able to make a sound._

 _The hay quickly caught fire. In a split second, everything in the cell was lit and on fire. She could hear the inmates yelling and screaming as the fire touched them and some tried to escape but couldn't make it to the door._

 _Annabeth just stood in the middle, a mad smile tugging on her lips as she watch every man fall to their knees as they die. Suddenly, she felt short of breath, feeling like every oxygen had been sucked out of her lung by a vacuum cleaner. Panic didn't arise in her, she could only feel her throat constrict as her smile faded._

"Baby," She was shaken awake by an outside force, "hey, baby. Annabeth." The voice called soothingly, a little bit of worry laced within. "Wake up. Wake up." He whispered I gently in her ear. "I'm here, you're safe okay? You're fine. I'm here for you, it's just a bad dream." Her eyes refocused, adjusting the dim lights, her eyes cleared, and she was now staring at Percy's handsome face.

She reached out her hand, cupping his cheek, touching him and feeling him, as if he would disappear or he wasn't real. He covered her hand with his. Leaning down, he planted a kiss on her lips, light but reassuring.

"What did I say this time?" She whispered, looking in his eyes, searching for an answer.

He shook his head. "Nothing." He leaned up and planted kiss on her forehead.

She didn't believe a thing he was telling her, she must've said something, maybe everything she wasn't able to yell out was actually the sound that woke him. She only realized that he was indeed telling the truth when he wiped away a tear under her eyes with his thumb.

"It's just another nightmare, baby." He told her, reassuringly. "Do you want to talk about it?" He whispered, gently and soothingly, though sleepily too.

Annabeth shook her head, still gazing at him lovingly and adoringly.

"I'll tell you in the morning if that will make you feel better." She said, knowing that it wouldn't be the first nightmare that she'd have, and the ones she got would just get worse each time.

He nodded, pulling her closer to him and closed his eyes once again. Not long after, soft snores could be heard from him.

It was only her that was left awake now.

Only her and her nightmares.

But, she was getting better.

 **END**

* * *

 **First of all, I'd like to thank everyone who finished this story! I really appreciate your support and love (even if you don't).**

 **So, I want to try something with you guys:**

 **You all know that the writer can only reply to registered users with PMs and the guest users cannot right? And if it's the last chapter of a story, it's pointless to just post another chapter with all the response to the reviews because there will be more in the future. Hence, I came up with this plan.**

 **With every registered user that reviewed in my story, last chapter or not, I will reply to you via PM. For every non-registered user that reviewed - doesn't matter where - you can see my reply to your review on my profile (you'll know which one you are, I'll make sure of it).**

 **I will only stick to the plan if you people support me because if you don't then, needless to say, everything is a waste. It's a simple tryout plan, so if you agree to it, start by commenting here.**

 **If you don't know what to review but want a shoutout on my profile page (or simply a reply), ask me something (literally anything, I won't be offended even its personal questions or rude critics). For example, 'do you know you sound pathetic?' I'm very laidback, just spill.**


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